Krait book 16: Triwizard year, part 1
by slytherinsal
Summary: the years have turned to be another Triwizard competition, this time with the Russian School for Pure Blood witches and wizards competing. Lilith plans to enter at a ridiculously young age, and the Russians have a surprising champion. This one is going to cover all the schools simultaneously over 4 parts for the sake of my sanity. Thanks for waiting!
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Still planning on entering the Triwizard illegally, shortstuff?" asked Sextus, lazily.

"Of course," said Lilith, shaking her effulgent locks. "Why not? I thought you realised I'd made up my mind ages ago, you baboon."

"Oh, no reason, I guess; just thinking how young you are. I'd be a bit daunted and I'm nearly two years older than you."

"Meh," said Lilith, "I'm only a year younger than Harry was when he was joint winner, you know, and he was suffering under the disadvantages of being depressed, oppressed, repressed and a whole raft of other –esseds down to and including being close to being possessed by Fishface."

"Well that's true enough," said Sextus. "I suppose if I was slung into it, I'd give it a good try. How are you going to square that conscience of yours about other eager sixers?"

"Child's play," said Lilith, airily, "if an incompetent like Barty Crouch could confuddle the goblet into thinking there was another school, someone who is worthy of being called a witch isn't going to have much trouble."

Sextus accepted this without a murmur; he knew that Lilith's self assessment was fair enough.

"And you'll do the same if I do decide to go for it, so I'm in with a shout?" he asked. "I'm not going to be in age this time I don't think to try legallyish and I'll be left by next, I'm not even sure if you're going to be in age for it next time too. Arithmancy and summer hols doesn't go if there isn't mischief to be had from it."

"Rather," said Lilith, "Be great if we did it jointly and announced our wedding plans then to get all the publicity hidden under the Triwizard crap, though you are out it for next time for sure, which sort of pokes that one in the eye, old bean."

Sextus laughed.

"Makes sense," he said. "I suppose though by then all the post-NEWT students from academies will be jumping in too to that gives me a shot."

Lilith shook her head.

"No, Dad thought of that, partly because he wanted me well squashed, as I'm likely enough to be a perpetual student, he has had a ruling pushed through that nobody whose age is more than 19 at the onset of the competition can take place, with that being disqualification grounds by the organisers so the cup can't be confuddled that way. And that should fix most things. Viktor and Lion both did it in the year after their NEWTs but that would allow for exceptional circumstances like that, oh, and they have a get-out clause which says except where schooling has been interrupted for unforeseen circs, and agreement to be on the part of the other headmasters that such a candidate might put their name in. Like if someone like Dione had to step out for a couple of years 'cos of being raped and having a baby. The Heads of the school have to return a majority agreement, not a unanimous one, so it can't be loused up by someone being difficult."

Sextus nodded.

"Sounds fair; and as a case by case matter, can be agreed on every individual," he said. "By the way, is it tea time yet?"

"No, but let's go and scrounge something from Eduard's elves anyway," said Lilith.

Lilith and Sextus and a selection of other Marauders had elected to attend a symposium hosted by Eduard Von Frettchen at his ducal manor in Prussia, after he had been asked by Frau Kluba, Herbology teacher at Durmstrang, if there was a grant available to study pattern magic in planting, to enhance growth and potioneering efficacy.

Eduard had been much struck by the idea – introduced by the Musical Marauders, now about to move into the fourth in Durmstrang – and had invited every eminent herbologist he could think of, all the herbology teachers he had knowledge of, a selection of potioneers he thought would be interested – including Severus and any relatives he wanted to bring - and invited Rory Staines of the Muggle Marauders, late of Prince Peak, to lead the discussion, with input from his friend Randolph Wright whose speciality was pattern magic.

It may be said that of the two American herbologists, one had retired in high dudgeon and had been forced to leave his elves behind.

The Marauders had taken an instant dislike to this one, and had been secretly pleased that at least his four elves would be freed from the self-punishing compulsion. As they were in Europe, and seeing how harsh Mr Vertenbottom was, it had been Zoltan of the Musical Marauders who had managed to secrete one of Vertenbottom's socks in a pile of hedge clippings the man was bound to call one of his elves to take away after a practical session. They had already ascertained that the elf, who had squealed with delight on discovery of the same, was a half brother of Mr Vertembottom, and firmly explained to the said elf, Bubba, that he was now a free member of the Vertembottom family and could free all the other elves in the family.

Bubba had lost no time in doing so, and indeed, Mr Vertembottom was going to be at a severe herbological disadvantage when he returned to his plantation and discovered that Bubba had freed all the other slaves there, and brought them surreptitiously to Eduard's lands to be taught how to be free and find gainful employment.

Bubba himself was to work at Durmstrang with Frau Kluba and the Musical Marauders. His sister and two nieces were to accompany him. How Eduard was to deal with some fifty or so half elf, half human ex slaves was, said Sigismund cheerfully, what they paid him a ducal wage for.

The other American, who had been inclined to be rather standoffish, had thawed considerably when he had discovered this plotting – the Marauders gloated openly after Mr Vertembottom had departed, unaware that he was also going to be floating shortly from an excess of jinxing to his well padded bottom – and Mr Draxman had admitted to being quite impressed by the attitudes of Europeans, which he had not expected. It turned out that he gave his allegiance to an American organisation called The White Council, which opposed slavery, and indeed the summoning of sentient beings to bind them to tasks.

Lilith had promptly become arithmantic about how to disrupt the circles of protection of anyone idiot enough to indulge in demonology and wisely the Marauders did not mention the boggart curse to control bullies. In his own way, Mr Draxman was as rigid as any supremacist. There appeared to be a conflict of power between this White Council and the American Department of Magic. The Department had done nothing over the disgraceful matter of owning part muggle slaves – in the case of some of Vertembottom's slaves holding as little as one sixteenth elf – let alone failing to come into line with their more civilised muggle counterparts in outlawing slavery entirely. Consequently, this was a power struggle the younger Marauders were secretly in favour of becoming involved in when they left school, helping out Chrys and Nils of the Broomstick Boys. The Broomstick Boys received an owl bearing intelligence that they found VERY interesting.

Mr Draxman had not impressed the Marauders present a lot more than his countryman; however, happy he was to champion the rights of downtrodden elves, he became almost apoplectic over the arrogance of Lucius' liveried head gardener who was also visiting.

He was hardly less outraged by goblins who walked tall and were self confident. The Marauders thought him silly, but gave him A for his intentions if somewhere between P and T for ability. Being Marauders these classifications stood not for Poor, Dreadful and Troll but Prunish, Dunderhead and Tripe. They were, after all, inclined to the Severine nomenclature, and besides, it was unkind to mock Trolls, as Lilith said, when Trurk was quite bright and a long way ahead of the Tripe writers of the Ministry, and shouldn't the lowest classification of fail be changed to M for Minister?

oOoOo

Another surprise guest at the gardening symposium, in the person of Great Snake Mihail Vasylovitch Solvejov, appeared to be considered the personal property of the Ubiquitous Marauders of Prince Peak, and especially of Zhenga Rebet.

"We need to blood Mischa properly," she informed the others, "I expect you picked up the rather brevet blooding my parents and I did with him, but he needs our protection."

"I owe a life-debt to Zhenga Ihorova," said the Great Snake.

"It doesn't count," said Lilith. "Marauders protect and serve like Aurors and, er, Kozaky in the Ukraine. Anyway, if you are blooded we are all ready to bleed for each other so then it REALLY doesn't count."

Mihail Vasylovitch smiled gently.

"I am happy to acknowledge the debt; as she did not have to put herself out for me," he said. "Besides, my dear young lady, it is a matter of politics. If I acknowledge the debt, as my organisation is aware, I shall have more leeway in relaxing the rules concerning the inclusion of women and part goblins. I'm a political animal."

"Oh, like Lucius," said Lilith. "Oh that's all right then and makes perfect sense. What happened?"

"I was in a potions supply shop, and I overheard a couple of people plotting, and it was how about then, the Great Snake was going to be taking the second part of a two-part potion which would kill him and obliteeriate him horribly," said Zhenga, "So I grabbed a bezoar and apparated right to him just as he was gagging, but his tongue was too swollen to shove the bezoar in, and in the heat of the moment I forgot I could do it using extrinsic translocation by precision into his gut."

"It's only a NEWT level concept, after all, and you in the fourth," said Sextus, snidely.

"Bite your tongue," said Zhenga. "Anyway, I hacked his palm and mine, and Mummy and Daddy hopped in right behind me and helped out, and we chanted, and his tongue went down enough to get the bezoar down, and by that time all his council of White Snakes were babbling about women in the council chamber, and it being a non-apparating zone and all that. And then Mischa gave them a blasting about how it was as well that English-trained children could overcome normal ritual or he'd be dead, and I told him what I heard, and as one of the other White Snakes was trying to sneak away, Mischa called duel on him. He's very competent," she added.

"Oh well, we've more or less got a Quorum, and with the number we have Arithmancy doesn't matter," said Lilith, then made a face. "Did I actually just say something as heretical as Arithmancy doesn't matter?"

"You did, Halfpint, and the universe blushed in shame," said Sextus.

"Bite your tongue!" said Lilith. "I like that, Zhenga; where did you pick that one up from?"

"David Eddings," said Zhenga.

"Oh of course; from Sparhawk," said Lilith.

"Yes, little mother," said Sextus. Lilith poked him and any ceremony was delayed while a free-for all was briefly and gloriously enjoyed, and several people had to go searching for ears, eyebrows and – in Lilith's case – her hair, not to mention removing various pustules and tentacles. Being some of the more talented Marauders, as the Musical Marauders had responded too to the blood pulse, the pustules burst not with maggots but with random brightly coloured musical notes which played a discordant jangle as they erupted.

"Noisy jinxes," said Mihail, mildly.

"More fun that way," said Zoltan Nagy.

The blooding ceremony was duly held, with Eduard Von Frettchen and his wife joining them too, and Mihail Vasylovitch was taken away by grown-ups.

"I say, young Zhenga," said Lilith, who was the same age as Zhenga, "Did you know what often follows on from a life-debt?"

Zhenga flushed.

"I did look it up," she said, "Because I get sort of grown up feelings that I'm not ready to handle yet, and I talked to Mischa about it, and he said that he can't help seeing what I'm going to look like when I'm grown up which is embarrassing for him too. But he said we'd have to put up with it to use it to drag the Order of the Dragon kicking and screaming at least into the eighteenth century, even if he can't get it to the twenty-first."

"Oh, all right," said Lilith, "If he's seeing you like you're going to look, that's okay, if he wasn't it's a bit icky, though he didn't feel icky. But you know, right is right."

"Why are there so many Great Snake jokes there?" murmured Sextus, and then had to extricate himself from being temporarily a baboon.

"I was planning on being the first part-goblin member of the order, you know," said Zhenga. "It'll take until I'm grown up for them to get used to the idea. I did think about trying to infiltrate the Goblet of Fire, but I'm not sure if I'm good enough."

"You're not bad, Zhenga, and I reckon you'd give Lilith a run for her money if you managed," said Sextus.

Zhenga considered.

"No, I don't think I would," she said. "Like you aren't going to try; you know when it's not right. Besides, Mischa might need our lot to help with his insurgent White Snakes, because we're better at ritual than they are."

This passed without comment. Nobody disputed that anyone from Prince Peak were the experts on ritual.

"We were going to give it a go," said Sigismund. "Using chanting and a physical sending into the goblet. Just to see if we could. But then The Kaiserin put the kybosh on us even trying by asking us to help set the third task, so in honour we can't even try."

"Though either one of the Eulenspiegels could whip us, even blindfold and standing on one leg," said Zoltan. "We've got some decent contenders and I reckon Vighard could have done it if we'd stolen him from his misery a year earlier. But it'll either be Xanthe or Zyrillis."

"They did a good job at the duel," said Zhenga. "You hadn't stolen Vighard then."

"No," said Sigismund. "Still, he's safe now, and blooded. And by the way, is anyone else going to finish those cream buns Eduard provided?"

oOoOo

The Symposium progressed very well, once adult herbologists had got over having hissy fits about some of the lectures being given by children.

As Zoltan said,

"WE think it's a bit childish to make a fuss and walk out, but we wouldn't want anyone stupid enough to make a fuss in our class anyway, and we rediscovered combat gardening, so if you don't like it, go and compost yourself."

He lost about a quarter of his audience and had the rest laughing at his subsequent comment over having thinned out the sickly growth in the seed tray of life.

It may be said that the pattern magic that the Musical Marauders touched on was of the kind that repelled slugs, deer and other creatures inimical to gardens, or the kind which encouraged healthy growth. They avoided the true combat gardening of which they were capable; it was a Marauder secret. They had borrowed Prince Peak's Joran Ulvaeus by the expedient of inviting him to the Von Freyer house, in order to combine muggle methods of topiary training with magical metalwork, to make a wire frame for a topiary horse powered by the Raidho rune to paw and trample and attack at need. Their topiary horse was as yet a bit of a topiary Thestral, for the want of much leafy flesh on his metal bones but a bit of chanting would see the growth completed not long after they returned to school.

Joran had been delighted to have his skills called upon, and Sigismund and Zoltan had solemnly paid him for his services, as he was not a Marauder. As the Musical Marauders had been able to suggest using pattern magic in the big group of statues Joran dreamed of casting for a Scandinavian Wizarding School, he was more than happy!

Prince Peak was not very Herbology-oriented, save for potioneering purposes, so only Valerie Burdock, Randal Wright and Rory Staines were there, in addition to Dimsie Burke Nuffield, from the Potioneer's point of view, and taking notes for Severus who was a competent Herbologist from a Potioneering point of view, but who fled from dedicated gardeners. Durmstrang equally fielded only Frau Kluba and the brothers Sigismund and Zoltan, representing their ilk. The Dame School in Munich which was the only small school in Germany that offered Herbology, declined to send a representative to 'some fool fringe meeting' and the Head felt very foolish about it later when the Symposium at the castle of Herzog Von Frettchen received a short paragraph in most of the newspapers with a list of the schools represented.

Beauxbatons sent Mlle Fleur LeBois, the Herbology teacher, who endeared herself to the two Musical Marauders by confessing that she played music to her plants. They dragged her off to talk to Frau Kluba and became technical about musical magic. The two Herbology teachers may have been left no wiser, but they were drastically better-informed.

Naturally Pomona Sprout of Hogwarts attended, and her star NEWT pupils and Jingjie Chang, who did not intend to take Herbology further than OWL but who never turned down any extra knowledge that was offered. Especially as he would be eligible for the Triwizard, and last time there had been Snargaluff. Lilith had already attained an 'O' grade in Herbology NEWT, and Pomona was by no means surprised to find her there, adding to her fund of knowledge. What made Lilith such an endearing child, thought Pomona, was the fact that although she knew so much, she freely acknowledged that there was always more to learn. Lilith had no trouble taking lectures from small boys much her own age, and asked sensible questions. Pomona did not know that as well as wanting to know, Lilith was also well primed by her father to get questions rolling if nobody else did, to encourage those speaking. Blank faces could be very discouraging.

Jade's school fielded Anett Breuer Bane, which also meant her husband, Mortimer, Ervig gan Sabac, who was a sole student taking Herbology to ZH, with intent to use it to read the minerals in a landscape for when he trained as an engineer, and Biirta Hess, who loved finding things out. Lucius Malfoy blew in too, and it was not solely with the intent of seeing Biirta. Biirta's friends Magda and Gauda were staying with Von Frettchen in any case as Von Frettchen had decreed that Magda Schmitt must be related to Von Frettchen's wife, Ann. Lucius had left most of the note-taking to his head gardener, but attended for the last day with the intent of carrying Biirta off for ruthless training in Ancient Runes. Writing and reading love letters in Babylonic cuneiform did concentrate the mind wonderfully. He offered a visit to Gauda too, but Gauda blushed and thanked him, and said she was very happy playing with the duke's children and the illegitimate offspring of his nephew, and was considering accepting a post as their nurse and governess when she left school, whereas Mr Malfoy had a sufficiency of wives to do the same job.

Lucius laughed and wished her luck. Eduard Von Frettchen had now got triplets as his revolting nephew had accepted being sent back to childhood rather than face Nurmengard for attempting to kill all his family, and every effort had been made to make this third child as like to the others as possible, with ritual, renaming Ignaz as Ludovic as a part of the ritual of change. The triplets had a delicate little sister too, and the duke had taken into his household the four children his precocious nephew had sired on muggle and goblin villagers. He needed an educated nurse maid and governess, and he would see that Gauda had every opportunity to meet suitable people as well.

oOoOo

The symposium broke up in time for those who were going to attend the English weddings of the year to remove to Malfoy Manor.

This would be the weddings of the rest of the Belle Marauders, all of whom had older Marauders patiently waiting for them, including Chad Fenwick to Isabel Nightshade; Fabian Ramage to Maud Hubble-Langstaffe; Leo Black-Weasley to Drusillina Hallow; and Darryl Zabini to Mimi Snape.

Two more blooded, who were more supporters than Marauders, who would be marrying were Victor Crabbe and Elsie Blackwood. They would be teaching in a new school in Munich, Germany with most of the other newlyweds, and as Rory Staines was to be teaching Herbology, the small dame school was going to be seeing blood taints and goblins passing one of their few subjects with higher grades than they managed. As the other two subjects the dame school taught were Charms and Arithmancy, which were to be taught by Sebastian Cantripp and Victor Crabbe respectively, it seemed likely that the dame school would score only on not taking goblins. Which attitude might have been vindictive, but the rejection that its senior teacher had sent to Rory had been quite rude and hurtful. As the new school was to provide a full raft of subjects, made up largely by alumni of Prince Peak's very thorough academic regimen, the Munich goblins and blood taints would be quite ready to compete in the next Triwizard.

Another wedding to be hosted at Malfoy Manor was Chad's much older sister, Fenella, who had gradually come to know and fall in love with William Pepper, the muggle science teacher at Rowan House School where she taught Arithmancy and junior Mathematics. Her father had disowned her, since patently muggles were no more than animals. He could no more be moved on this subject to recognise that intellect had nothing to do with magical power than he could be moved to meet and acknowledge Chad, who had been raised by his aunt and uncle. Fenella had wept, but decided that it was her life, and that though Will couldn't lift an eggcup to save his life, he was an intellectual equal, which counted for more, because he had, at least, engaged to understand the theory of magic and could quote Emeric Switch as well as Cornelius Fenwick if not better.

Lucius considered Cornelius Fenwick to be a fool, to cut off his nose to spite his face, having lost one son by refusing to acknowledge the baby who lived when Cornelius' beloved wife had died, and to now eschew his daughter. Since Lucius privately thought that any wizard worthy of the name could have saved Lucille Fenwick, and that Cornelius' obsession with Arithmancy left him about as apt at other disciplines as most muggles, the encounter became heated as Lucius lost his temper and moved from pleading with the man not to make the same mistake he had almost done with Draco, to telling Fenwick how many kinds of a stultified fool he was to lose such nice children as Chad and Fenella. When Fenwick had sneered in a superior manner, and said it was on par with what one would expect of a goblin-poker, Lucius had an urge to wipe the sneer right off Fenwick's face, and proceeded to satisfy that urge with a left hook, being more satisfying than magic. Lucius declared he would give Fenella away, and Cornelius was not going to the weddings of the year.

Whether Fenwick regretted that or not, Lucius did not know, but Fenella had shut herself away for a few hours, and had then gone to see David and Ellie Fraser for a long talk.

Chad received the news that Lucius had failed in bringing about a reconciliation with a tightly controlled face, and started work on a new play in which a comic character was known as Corny Fiddlewick. Some people were just beyond help.

Sextus had decided his mother was beyond help too, as she had tried to prevent him from attending the symposium, declaring that taking an interest in plants was just nonsense and it was a lie to cover up spending time with his father and the woman he had married.

Sextus had to ask for intervention from David Fraser, who had asked Lucretia Scarpin how she dared accuse her son of lying, and putting stress on him in an exam year, when he had no need to lie about spending time with his father and stepmother as it was his right to do so. Lucretia made accusations about Ashley Pencastle being only a muggle, and found herself dealing with a blazing scar as David pointed out that both his parents had been muggles, and that she should be ashamed of herself in sounding like the most ignorant German peasant who hadn't caught up with the realities of life.

David applied on Sextus' behalf for a court order for the boy to live with his father and stepmother, as dealing with OWLs was a matter that called for a calm and uncontentious home life; especially as David was privately quite certain that Sextus would be supporting his talented but volatile little girlfriend through the Triwizard. It was going to be an interesting year ahead. And Sextus was a little unsure whether he was grateful to David for taking the decision to appeal to live with Ashley and Albertine out of his hands or irritated at the Headmaster for being high-handed. Gratitude won the day; he knew it was no point trying to hide from a blood-brother how much his mother's foolishness upset him. He had taken out his frustrations sniping at fellow Marauders at the Symposium and arguing Arithmancy with Lilith.

Ashley and Albertine had been surprised to find themselves visited by a man from the ministry, but had expressed themselves more than willing to have Sextus if it was what he preferred. Albertine, or Tina as she liked to be called, was visibly pregnant and Ashley became pugnacious on her behalf when the ministry man asked if having her own children would make any difference to how she looked on Sextus. He pointed out that Sextus had asked if might have siblings as, added Ashley, the boy's mother had never managed to be quite ditsy enough to provide him with any unplanned siblings from other chance encounters without ascertaining the blood status of the object of her febrile passions.

As the ministry man had already spoken to Lucretia Scarpin, and had been impressed only by her level of ditsyness, the restrained anger of a muggle, unexpectedly caught up in the Wizarding World, and prepared to be a part of it in order to have something to do with his son's life, seemed quite reasonable. Sextus returned briefly to his new abode before heading for Malfoy Manor for the weddings, and promptly, and illegally, used his wand to determine that his anticipated sibling was a girl, perfectly healthy, and with a full complement of magical markers. Ashley and Tina were delighted to know she was healthy, and proud to have such a talented son. They were quite unaware just how talented their son was as Sextus did not bother to mention that he had used _muffliatus_ as a basis to invent an area of effect spell to conceal the use of underage magic, or indeed any magic.

Ashley did quite understand, though, that Sextus did not want to change his name; Scarpin was an old and respected name, and Sextus was, so far as he knew, the last of his line.

When he married Lilith, this would doubtless change, but Sextus did not plan to get too far ahead of himself thinking about that. It did unruly things to the set of his robes.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Agata Bacsò contacted David Fraser before the Symposium had entirely wound down.

"I'm going to be short a History teacher, David; can you help me out?" she asked. David pulled a face.

"I'm not sure that I can, Agata. You see, history has been very badly taught all round; you have had a mix of propaganda and incompetence, Hogwarts until a few years ago had a ghost who was totally hopeless, Miss Cackle inculcated only things that were 'naice' into her girls. We now have Percival Dweemer, and a larger number of pupils are now taking history, equally Severus's lot, who have Percy Weasley – something in the name, perhaps – and so far as I am aware, only four people who took a decent grade at NEWT, or in Severus' case ZH, are not teaching in free schools."

"Well, what about those four?" asked Agata, sounding desperate.

"Somehow I can't see Lionel Dell giving up being an Auror to teach history anywhere; besides he has three wives and two of them are goblins," said David.

"That…would be hard to reconcile," said Agata. "And the others?"

"Mardo Monk and Stacey Kordach-Christie are half-goblins," said David, dryly. "Stacey is married to an Auror and is training in the Quaestorium; Mardo, who took six NEWTs, five at 'O' grade, is a freelance curse breaker."

"Dear me, on paper, Mr Monk would be ideal," said Agata, "How goblin does he look?"

"Sufficiently to notice," said David.

"Oh dear, I doubt any of my staff would care, well, a couple might, but not irreplaceable ones, but the parents might make trouble," said Agata. "But there's a fourth?"

"Yes; Harmony Bloom-Weasley," said David, "who is happily married to Percy Weasley at Prince Peak."

"I suppose your history teacher might not be persuaded to come to me, and you have Mr Monk?" asked Agata.

"Merciful Percival, which is what the pupils call him, would hate Durmstrang, even in your more enlightened rule," said David. "We – the staff – protect him from the realities of life as much as we can as it is. And besides, Mardo is quite happy as a curse breaker."

"I wonder if Frau Bloom-Weasley would consider teaching as a day job and apparate home at night?" said Agata. "As she's in Austria, the time zones would be the same, and so no problem about living and working in different places."

"I'll ask," said David. He thought that Harmony might just agree; she was helping in various lessons with those who needed bringing on, but she might just like a permanent job, and could discuss different ways of doing things with Percy, who would be interested.

"Thank you, David," said Agata.

oOoOo

"What do you think, Percy?" Harmony asked her husband.

Percy kissed her.

"I think that whatever you choose is good, so long as it is what YOU want," he said.

"Percy, do you think I can teach in Durmstrang?"

"Yes of course; you've had a thorough grounding in European History. It's not as though you were going to it from the point of view of only studying the NEWT, and I am glad Severus has decided to use the ZH. It's a better exam in some ways, though the NEWT does allow more speculation about goblin issues. And maybe an English teacher might be able to raise goblin issues in Germany."

"Put like that, it almost seems my duty to go," said Harmony.

"I didn't mean to make you feel pressured, my darling," he kissed her hair.

"I know. But it does seem almost as though it's fated," said Harmony. "And I didn't mean actually that I was nervous of knowing my subject, only that I was a little nervous of the Durmstrang kids."

"Well, they do have Marauders, and several of the staff are bloodkin."

Harmony brightened.

"That's very true. And I know Salvia Pippin; she was a year above me at Hogwarts. And Katarina Nachtigall was at school here."

"And Volodya Potishev, who did a year here, and we've met Clovis Gierek. Nothing to worry about."

Harmony nodded.

"And as the Asimov twins are going to be here for post-school work, I don't have to worry about Zlatko's acid tongue pointing out some obscure historical fact that I've missed."

"I shall enjoy shaking up that young man's complacency, actually," laughed Percy, "because as he's self-taught regarding things that interested him, I'm willing to bet there are big gaps in his knowledge because of the useless female they had before Lazlo took a year teaching."

"You could be right," said Harmony, brightening. Zlatko was a blood brother, but he made her a little nervous nonetheless. If Harmony but knew it, she was in company of the vast majority of those people who knew Zlatko, not excluding some of the blooded!

oOoOo

The wedding of the year that only a select few were attending, including Jade and Wulf, was the marriage of Zhanargul Nurtazin to Lazlo Ijas, the reason that the teaching post at Durmstrang had become unavailable. Lazlo was well aware that being Zhanargul's husband was a heavy commitment, as he would be helping her and her father deal with any final elements of those who would wish to come in line with the muggles of the region in despising women and banning them from ruling. As one of Jade's disciples, Lazlo was equal to dealing with any relatively amateur spirit-masters now that the relative expert, Tulegen Nurtazin, also know as 'Uncle Tootles', was dead.

Wizarding Wireless Vision covered the wedding, however, and also covered the negligent way in which the bride and groom dealt with a dozen or so Dementors with Irmi Luytens-Cantripp's electrical spell. Being in public, the happy couple summoned ball lightning inside each of them, a piece of extrinsic conjuration by precision well beyond even the knowledge of most wizards, let alone the understanding. It may be said that some commentators on magic logged it as 'extraordinary and exotic Eastern techniques'.

"Helluva wedding present," said Lazlo, laconically when interviewed by the reporter Lucius had sent. "Just because we've learned English techniques, someone obviously thought we wanted a bit of sport in the English fashion."

As the reporter was Dennis Creevey, he merely laughed.

"Well, I can see you're in for an eventful life!" he said.

"Apparently," said Lazlo. "Well someone has to do it."

oOoOo

There would be a double wedding under the auspices of Malfoy Manor in the near future, but the brides and grooms were still slightly shocked over having come face-to-face with each other at a point-to-point and recognised that sometimes childhood sweethearts did not make for permanent relationships, especially when the relationship was too comfortable to have any spark.

Griselen and Genavka, having knocked around with Philip Burke and Anthony Parkinson for most of their school life had been finding that they were making excuses not to get wed along with the Belle Marauders; and having gone along to support Lucius at a horsy meet because it was Sunday and there was nothing better to do, they came face to face with the Corbin twins.

Hugin and Munin had once taken the Malfoy-Tobak twins to the ball for want of anyone better, and because Phil and Tony had not come up to scratch to ask the girls anyway; and Hugin had been considering romancing their younger sister Zajala. However, sometimes the magic of twins has a power of its own, and Griselen walked into Hugin's arms, Genavka walked into Munin's, and without further ado there was much kissing.

"Well FINALLY," said Narcissa, who had been anticipating this. It may be said that Narcissa was the only one who had seen it coming, and had to be sorted out later by her sister wives and husband. Zajala had merely looked slightly taken aback, laughed and murmured something about Hugin obviously getting the wrong sister at first.

Phil and Tony were hurt more in the pride than in the heart.

Ingram Corbin was furious, and wanted to know why his sons had to pick goblins, not nice witches of good family, even if there weren't many pure bred ones about any more.

"They are pure bred," said Hugin.

"There isn't a drop of muggle blood in them," agreed Munin.

"And if the Malfoys aren't a good family I don't know what is," said Hugin, who had mustered the arguments when he had been considering dating Zajala.

Their mother, Sibyl Corbin, fell into strong hysterics; and their older brother Bertram declared they should be disowned for even thinking of it.

"If our own flesh and blood are as ready to disown us as our cousin Branard was to disown his daughter, Grace, then we shall know that belonging to the Corbin family is a sham," said Munin, who had ambitions in politics and so struck, without thinking about it, a 'more in sorrow than in anger' pose. "Grace was adopted as a Snape and is now Madam Grace Malfoy; and if you disown us, I'm sure Lucius and the girls will be happy for us to take the surname Malfoy-Tobak instead."

Ingram started backpedalling at this point. The family had more or less lived down the scandal surrounding Grace's disowning, and being awarded to Severus Snape as a ward. Some of the old scandal had been dragged up when Peverel Corbin had died so tragically of a heart attack when racing. Lucius Malfoy had reminded people in the Wizarding Times obituary that Peverel had been expelled from Hogwarts for poisoning his little cousin Grace with a poorly constructed experimental potion, for which the unfortunate child had been disowned by her own family. It had, thought, Ingram, of course been nothing to do with that, the girl was virtually a squib, and had left school after OWLs; presumably Draco Malfoy had taken the gullible little fool to bed and that nasty tongued creature Snape had enough hold over Lucius from the Voldemort years to force the marriage. Ingram Corbin did not for one moment believe that an undisputed high-flyer like Draco could have loved anyone so patently inadequate.

It was fortunate for Ingram Corbin that he never dared express such views to Draco, or he might have found himself with a duel on his hands. Hugin and Munin had no idea their father felt like this; as they had the entrée to Malfoy Manor, as friends of Gorbrin, they could see well enough the situation between Draco and Grace, and that Draco loved and respected his staunch and brave little wife. They also knew that Grace was as capable of anyone at NEWT level magic, and was just uninterested in the formal pursuit of academe. With a father like Branard, who took academe to the same foolish extent that Cornelius Fenwick did, the twins could appreciate her point.

"Please don't rush into anything," said Ingram, trying to sound tolerant.

"Father, you should forbid them!" said Bertram.

"They are over seventeen; I could not do so if I wanted to," said Ingram, waspishly, who might be shocked, but who liked his younger sons better than his pompous older one.

"It's nothing to do with you, Bertie," said Hugin, knowing how much his brother hated being shortened like that.

Bertram drew wand, but he had never belonged to the MSHG, which Hugin had, and Ingram could only watch in amazement as the son he thought of as perhaps the least able proceeded to jinx his elder so thoroughly that it later took the services of a cursebreaker – the half-goblin Mardo Monk, who knew a trick or two himself from his own days in the MSHG – to stop the pustules from exploding with maggots shouting 'Bertie is a fink!' and to remove every last dancing spider leg that jigged in time to the nasal bagpipe music which was some kind of American dirge about swinging chariots.

"Cool curses, bro," said Munin.

"Zajala Malfoy-Tobak taught them to me," shrugged Hugin. "I've got a few galleons on her being the Hogwarts Triwizard Champion."

"Not Lilith Snape?" said Munin.

"Nope, she'll come up with a way not to take away the chance of the sixth to try for it," said Hugin.

"Well, I'd back Jingjie Chang in that case," said Munin. "He has more OWLs than Zajala, and he's better all round."

"But he isn't as strong willed," said Hugin. "Ming was brilliant, but erratic, but he had a will of iron. Jingjie is far steadier, but he's not… well he's very academic and very clever too, and good at the mischief as well…."

"And he is a Marauder and she isn't," said Munin.

"Well, that's as may be, but Gorbrin reckons she has the edge," said Hugin.

"DOES he, by Merlin!" said Munin. "Well, in that case… he's pretty objective about his siblings."

"I can't believe you are talking about the Triwizard when you should realise you are in disgrace!" managed Bertram through his spider legs crooning 'coming for to carry me home'.

"He could do with being carried somewhere," murmured Munin, who was quite impressed by his brother's virtuosity.

"We will talk about this more when I have had a chance to think about this," said Ingram with what he fondly hoped was dignity. He did not even ask Hugin to uncurse Bertram; expecting that civility between one of the twins and their elder brother, either way round, would have been the triumph of hope over expectation.

oOoOo

Back at Malfoy Manor, Griselen and Genavka were treated to some teasing by Draco for having had to pick a matched set; and he asked them seriously if they were certain, as Corbins could be a little, well…. Ravenclawish.

"They were until Hugin figured out that the Riddle riddle was just Lils being a pest," said Griselen. "And Munin unbent rather too, and they both joined the MSHG, even if it was only Hugin at first."

"And they're too academic to be employable so they need to be fully paid up Malfoy layabout gits," said Genavka.

"Hugin thought about being an Auror, but it wasn't Munin's thing, so he backed out; they're VERY twin, like we are," said Griselen.

"Heh, maybe you should persuade them to help you help Mafalda Prewett steal Branard Corbin's academy for further study and worshipping oneself," said Draco, who was enthusiastic about Mafalda's ambitions.

The twins exchanged looks.

"Now THAT," said Griselen,

"Has possibilities," finished Genavka.

Draco laughed, and sent them to get dressed for when the guests started arriving and went to check that the Brussels sprouts in chilli-batter and the string bean salad would be ready to provide enough amusement for young jinxers.

oOoOo

The weddings of the year were newsworthy only because of the arrival of Bella Black-Khanum and her husband to see her friends married in style. So far as most of the Wizarding World was concerned, the rest were marginally obscure people, even if launched by Lucius. Until, of course, someone on 'Witch Weekly' recalled the fuss over Darryl Zabini and his elf girlfriend and decided to run a sickly spread about how sweet it was that they were still together after all Darryl's vicissitudes. Mimi looked beautiful, her cloud of black curls a contrast to her white gown, and with her tall natural form, well-grown and not in the least childish, she looked more elfin than elven. Darryl also wore white to show up his dark skin. The others were more or less conventionally dressed and none of them had taken Bella's dare to get married wearing fireman's helmets, swimming costume and standing in a bucket, in which costume they had once performed sundry serenades.

It had been the turn of the Belle Marauders to be serenaded themselves, which was a fart organ and comb-and-paper concert from Lilith and co; and being Lilith and co, they managed a tuneful harmony despite the wildly inappropriate instruments. Being the Belle Marauders, the recipients of the serenade livened it up with the nasal bagpipe curse and honkytonk twinkletoes curse on themselves, and led by Lilith they marched off to change into their wedding finery playing 'I'm getting married in the morning' to swingtime, to which the Stripy Marauders happily adapted on their own instruments. And Lilith managed to have an idea, which put to Fred, George and Garjala Weasley led to the honking daffodil instrument, which was operated by blowing into the 'leaf' and the honking emerging from the trumpet, but with different notes operated by finger-holes on the stalk.

The weddings went off without more ado, and Bella busy with unwanted advice on the married state, which judging by her burgeoning fecundity she had been enjoying to the full. Bella was due to give birth before the start of a new school year, and had been collecting hopeful children to start her school with, and depressing the pretensions of those she felt needed sitting on from amongst the established wizarding community in India. She was much hugged by her group, of course, and giggling promises were made to set up cricket fixtures between the Indian school and the various schools the rest were going to be involved with.

"I think the French goblins will take longer to learn the game though, and Darryl and I will have our work cut out just getting them educated," said Mimi.

"Not as long as it'll take Mafalda to train Corbin's Academy of mimsy meepers though," said Bella. "Especially as she's a year behind us for taking a year to train with Severus."

This was held to be fair comment.

The brides were radiant, as was only right and proper, and the grooms indecently complacent. The parents of the brides were delighted; Maud's mother pleased that her Maud had a lovely kind husband like Fabian, and unconcerned that his family was virtually unknown; Drusillina's mother pleased that Drusillina had managed to ally herself with a scion of both Black and Weasley families, and Isabel's mother entirely bemused as to how Isabel had managed to land a well-established member of the wizarding community like Chad Fenwick.

Fenella Fenwick was supported at least by her aunt and uncle, who were delighted that she had managed to grow up as a decent human being, despite her father; and the Grant family, who were nephews and nieces on Fenella's and Chad's uncle's side, turned out in force to support their cousins too.

As soon as the weddings were over, the annual weevil fest would begin, this year with only one pupil starting as Blooded, which was Iris Snape, oldest child of both Severus and Sirri together. Iris and Sevvy had both accepted being chanted into the natural form elves should have; Iris being half elven would be taller in any case. Iris knew the Malfoy contingent of course, though she and Lucasta were never likely to be close, since Iris disliked horses intensely. She had been bolstering the confidence of Solly deMalfoy, the son of Reedy, who was to be the first of Lucius' own elves to go to school.

Solly was not wearing a taller form, unlike most of Lucius' liveried elves. Lucius had managed to convince most of them that the small form was a curse, and an insult to their family but Reedy was holding out and muttering darkly about things that were unnatural.

Another Malfoy connection needing boosting was Peter Tippet, whose brother Charles had gone to Hogwarts the year before. Charles had been borderline; Peter's skills bid fair to be respectable, and he was particularly keen to learn potions formally, having taught himself a few potions from an old text book of Draco's. The only other direct protégés of the Malfoy family this year were Harry Dursley, son of Dudley, who was proud of his father for being The Muggle Who Dared; and Amy Charlotte Gardiner, youngest daughter of Lucius' red-haired muggle helicopter pilot. Harry got on reasonably well with Lucasta since he did ride; he liked cars too, as his father did, but he also loved the magnificent horses and hippogriffs Lucius maintained in his stables. Harry was a keen Quiddpolo player! He preferred it to Quidditch, and if the cousin he was named after, Harry Potter, was a little bemused by that, he was just delighted to see his young cousin enjoying the Wizarding World without stress or family problems. Amy Charlotte got on reasonably well with Lucasta too, as she loved horses, but found Lucasta a little too bossy for comfort. She was quite equal to not being railroaded into anything by Lucasta, but preferred not to get into an argument in the first place. Lucasta gave Amy Charlotte respect for not being easily bullied and they were mostly fairly amicable.

oOoOo

The weevil fest was a little thin on the ground this year; as there were relatively few new ones who were related to, or known to, what Lucius referred to as 'the usual suspects'. This meant that he included siblings of those his offspring's friends considered 'all right', which meant a protégé of Bob Goyle, who had also become friendly with Lucius, a goblin girl called Zaerna gan Zajanax who was musical. Lucius had suggested that Bob might sponsor her to Prince Peak, but Bob felt she might be happier starting Hogwarts knowing an older girl, his daughter Gondoline, and could always transfer if her musical talent was sufficient to warrant specialist teaching. Lucius determined to make sure she met some of the Prince Peak crowd if he could manage it, and passed her onto Krezlli gan Zelbukek, a sister of brothers who were supporters of the Marauding types; Krezlli showed no signs of incipient Marauding or firework manufacture so she might be a nice quiet companion for a child shy enough to need to know a big girl.

As it happened, Zaerna was very far from being shy, and gravitated towards Arzad and Tagett Pigeon, twin sons of Ragnok, once known as Pigeon-toed, now legally just Pigeon. As a fellow council member, Lucius had offered an invitation to his oldest boys. The three young goblins promptly formed a political meeting and tried to harangue Iris about her rights.

Iris promptly gave them all exploding pustules filled with maggots.

"My dad led the chant in England and in Europe to remove the elf self-punishing curse, and what's more he sponsored the first goblin and half goblin in Hogwarts, and what I don't know about rights and the con-concommitant responsibilities could be writ large on a postage stamp," she said, firmly. "And by the way, you lot coming up to me and haranging me is almost bullying and if I was a fool like some people I'd screech racist bullying on you. So learn to get a life do, and join the Society Against Slavery or become a Marauder if you want to fight for justice and stuff."

The Pigeon twins had more wisdom than their parent.

"So tell us about them; you have older siblings in school?" asked Tagett.

"Heaps," said Iris. "Including the headmaster, in a manner of speaking, as he was my dad's ward in the Voldemort years."

"Are you adopted?" asked Zaerna. "You're a half-elf, right? That's pretty disgusting for a human to...URK!" she dangled in the air as a woodlouse.

"Racist assumptions there, old bean," said Iris, who had never cast the woodlouse curse before and was rather pleased with herself. Elves sometimes struggled with transfigurations, and she was relying heavily on being her father's daughter. "My mum has learned the natural, taller form elves should have before they were cursed into little and fubsy along with all the other curses, and my parents are all hoping to break that curse too in a general manner. But breaking slavery is a priority. And my mum chose to be with my dad, because she loves him, and he's the best potioneer in the world so she has really, _really_ good midwifery potions, so there."

Arzad's ears went up.

"Crumbs, you must be a Snape!" he said.

Iris curtseyed, beautifully, but slightly mockingly.

"Well, we'd like to be friends because you're bound to be clever," said Arzad.

Iris regarded him.

"I'm not much of a legilimens yet," she said, "but as that's truth, and not that you want to know me for my connections that's cool; and of course you've got your own connections. Shall I put the woodlouse down when I've explained Marauding and stuff?"

"I don't think she meant to be racist," said Tagett.

"No, I guess not," said Iris. "I say, er, Zaerna, before I turn you back I just want to tell you about a girl who was so keen on getting people to be fair she disrupted classes – classes one of my other mums was teaching – telling Garjala gan Golgo her rights. She opened her mouth without finding out facts, and I do wish you will be more careful. If you want to be friends too, it'll be embarrassing having to extricate a friend from the consequences of a big mouth."

She released Zaerna, and proceeded to lecture on the SAS and Marauding.

"I didn't know that there were societies at school to stand up for rights," said Zaerna.

"More than one, and we all work together at need," said Iris. "Well, I say 'we', because it's a family tradition to be a Marauder, though I'm not sure if I shall or not yet. Depends if there's any Maraudable people amongst the rest of us weevils."

"What do you mean by 'weevils'?" asked Zaerna sharply.

"First years," said Iris. "Second years are warts. You get to be unsullied by nickname on beginning electives."

"Nothing to do with race then?" asked Zaerna.

"Crumbs, you do have a poor idea of how tight a ship Professor Fraser runs at school!" said Iris. "He wouldn't permit any crap like that! Besides, enough of us know the prefect punishment for racist remarks – what I did to you – that nobody's about to start on it without some Marauder or other finishing it. We look out for the people who are too gentle, like Krezlli seems to be – though her brothers kind of run with the SAS when they and Seb aren't blowing people up a little bit accidentally – or the Pleiades twins, Asterope and Electra, whom I can see over there."

"They're half-goblins," said Tagett. "I bet they've had some stick in their lives. Funny name."

"They're a group of seven that Professor and Madam Black are sponsoring, who were rejected by their mothers, so yes, they have had some stick," said Iris, "and as the Black family name their offspring after stars, they called them the Pleides, the seven sisters constellation, you know."

"I know," said Tagett, "I'm keen to learn Geomancy and you need the stars to navigate."

"And for potioneering," said Iris, "not that I'm the hot potioneer some of my siblings are. I'm more keenerer on Herbology for its own sake than for growing ingredients; but how well things grow can be determined by the moon phase and sometimes the zodiac too."

"I'm not interested in plants or stars," said Zaerna.

"Well, I'm sure you have your talents, as well as music," said Iris, who made it her business to know about everyone Lucius had invited. "I hope so, anyway, as music is a fringe subject at Hogwarts and you'll have to work with Professor Jugson, who is technically an assistant to Professor Queach in Chanting but he does teach music on the side. He's not trained to teach magic through music though, you know."

"I just want to learn to make music," said Zaerna.

"Well, if you want to take it into magic, you can transfer to Prince Peak later," said Iris "or ask my sister Lilith, who could probably teach it quite adequately, she's in the fifth this year," she added. "It's touched on in Comparative Magic, which is taught by Professor Devlin this year, that's the head's wife."

"We're keen to learn chanting," said Arzad.

"It's the works," said Iris.

"And your dad reinvented it," said Tagett.

"And he didn't have to share, so it's appreciated," said Arzad. "He could have looked like the most powerful wizard since Merlin and kept how he did it a secret."

"Huh, Professor Snape scares all the racists in Europe, reckon he IS the most powerful wizard since Merlin," said Tagett. "He's too big a man to HAVE to keep shit to himself."

"THAT," said Iris, "is jolly perspicacious, Tagett. It's true, he is sufficiently comfortable with himself that he doesn't have to hide anything. Any more than Lucius does."

There was a long moment of silent respect.

"Are you on first name terms with Mr Malfoy?" asked Arzad, in awe.

"Well, for best, I dust off the 'uncle' and add it," said Iris. "He gets snippy about being great-uncle; makes him feel old. But I've known him all my life."

Iris took her new friends – she was still a little unsure about Zaerna, recognising the bossiness and Hermione Grangerness she knew she herself suffered from, and it was too close a match for comfort – to meet the Malfoy contingent.

"Ah, have we a quorum of Marauders Smallest Snape?" said Harry Dursley. He had Amy Charlotte Gardiner in tow; Amy Charlotte had tested magical and was excited to be going to Hogwarts with Harry, whom she rather admired.

"You snide git, you've been taking lessons from Draco," said Iris to Harry.

"Well, he is my godfather," said Harry. "And I want to be like Cousin Harry."

"Who's your cousin, Harry, mate?" asked Arzad.

"Harry Potter," said Harry.

Both boys whistled.

"Well, I reckon if anyone starts a Marauder group, it should be you," said Tagett "and we'd be honoured if you did pick us."

"And one of Snape's mums was a Marauder with them," said Harry, "and her dad supported them like mad. And one of the three disparate Weasleys isn't half-bad if we can cut him out, and Kingsley Shacklebolt's nephew, Kingsley, is somewhere about, the older one helped Sirius Black."

"Yeah, but if he's like his sister Roxanne, he'll be a dead loss," said Iris. "Shacklebolt Major was really horrid to my sister, and if Lilith hadn't been dead cool, it would have been bullying. And by the way, Jardak's sister, Bakelinn, is here too, and she's more than half decent, you know."

"She is," agreed Harry. "So's Del Blake, but he wants to be in the SAS like Roger. I asked already," he added.

"I like Bakelinn," said Amy Charlotte. "And I'm going to Maraud, because it's the right thing to do, and I can, you know."

"Willingness is worth more than anything else," said Iris, seriously. "What are the Weasley offerings like?"

"And you call ME snide?" said Harry. "Hugh, only child, stuffed robe extraordinaire, told me and Amy Charlotte kindly that he would help us find my feet as he has connections in the Wizarding world."

Iris and the twins fell about laughing.

"No, seriously?" said Iris.

"And he meant it kindly," said Harry. "I thanked him and said that I'd had a few pointers from my godfather. He nearly had conniptions when I mentioned who my godfather was. I hate blood snobbery, but sometimes it's sort of fun."

"And I told him that I had helped my mum fly half the connections in the Wizarding world to various places, and then he really started making faces like a flobberworm on a confusing and befuddlement draft," said Amy Charlotte.

"You can tell they've been raised almost Malfoy," said Iris. "And the others?"

"Nicostratus – what a monicker! – isn't very Weasley-like," said Harry. "I can almost see him being in Ravenclaw; he's an academic."

"I'm an academic," said Iris, mildly. "It goes with the surname."

"Yeah, but not dry and dusty," said Harry. "Jasper, on the other hand, who's the oldest of a long family, seems to be up for mischief. He took a broom and ran Hugh's underwear up Lucius's flagpole."

"Now that sounds more hopeful," said Iris. "And I say, I've just seen Kingsley Shacklebolt, the junior that is, in serious discussion with someone red enough to be a Weasley and serious enough to be a Raver, so maybe he won't do."

"Well, there's Bakelinn; let's ask her," said Harry, gesticulating wildly.

"I bet she'd be on for it," said Amy Charlotte.

Bakelinn came over.

"Oh good, are you Marauding?" she asked.

"Well, that answers that question," said Iris, introducing Bakelinn to the twins and Zaerna.

"I'm not sure I want to Maraud," said Zaerna. "I want to fight for rights but I'm not sure I want to be a part of japes and things."

"Well, doesn't stop us being friends," said Iris, pacifically. "I'll introduce you to Derek: he'll be glad of an ally."

This she did, and it has to be said it was with some feeling of relief. Zaerna had not felt quite right, and as the only blooded amongst the proto-marauder group, Iris knew she had the responsibility of checking who felt right and who did not.

Well, it was going quite well so far.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Harry showed that he was definitely raised alongside Malfoys and a worthy Marauder by the way he neatly cut out Jasper Weasley from the dubious companionship of the two other Weasley cousins and Kingsley Shacklebolt.

"Ah, Jasper, you have a subsequent engagement, had you forgotten?" he said, taking Jasper by the arm and leading him towards the other proto-marauders.

"Wouldn't I have to be more of a seer than having odd hunches to remember a subsequent engagement?" said Jasper.

"You get hunches? Wizard!" said Harry. "We probably need someone to keep us out of too deep a pile of trouble by warning us we're going to be up to our necks in it. Then we'll know to take a shovel."

Jasper grinned.

"I like the way you don't say 'then we can avoid it'" he said.

"Oh Marauders are supposed to be in trouble," said Harry. "Are you up for it? Like your cousin Ron? I'm representing my godfather, Draco, and my cousin Harry, and Snape Miniminimus here is representing her dad and one of her mums, Bakelinn has a brother who sort of marauds, and the Pigeon twins are new blood."

"Cool!" said Jasper. "I've heard a lot of really wild stories and they sound great!"

"Are we having Solly?" asked Iris. "He's Dobby's nephew, after all, and Dobby was associated with the Marauders."

"Good point, and he's a great sport," said Harry. "Reedy normally keeps his nose to the grindstone though, so it's a bit hard to extract him to play with, right, Amy Charlotte?"

"Harder to get free time for him than to win exploding snap with muggle cards," agreed Amy Charlotte.

"Poor Solly," said Iris, "I wasn't mistaken then, in thinking that Reedy doesn't really approve of him going to school."

"She reckons he'll get above himself," said Harry. "And I say, Iris, can you chant him to be the right size? Reedy wouldn't let Lucius, but she can't stop us doing him on the train or at school."

Iris brightened.

"It'll play merry hell with his uniform, though," she said. "Why don't we extract him, and see what we can do? I'll ask Lilith to give us some pointers."

A throat delicately cleared behind them.

"Marauding plotting already?" asked David Fraser. He had another small boy with him.

"We want to free Solly from the tyranny of his mother's attempt to keep him being a slavish sort of elf," said Harry.

"A reasonable sort of plot," said David. "Remember to use Gaelic for the chant and to use the power of twenty-three to extract it from his heritance. Those of you who can't manage much chanting can sing the Broomstick Boys' hit 'Turning' which will enhance any attempt to curse break on an elf. Meantime, this is Ivo Mordaunt who is a cousin of Professor Mordaunt but doesn't know him very well, and I fancy you might want to get to know him."

Iris regarded the dark, slender boy critically.

"Are the Mordaunts secondhand Princes and Snapes, Fido?" she asked.

"I have no idea," said David, "But Professor Mordaunt was at school with me and he always put me strongly in mind of your father, so I shouldn't be at all surprised."

"There's a branch that were Cackle's and Hellibore's," said Iris.

"Yes, but not mine," said Ivo, looking down his nose. "Are you one of Severus Snape's numerous offspring, then?"

"Full marks for perspicacity," said Iris. "You know about Marauding, then?"

"Some, but not really," admitted Ivo. "The Headmaster mentioned it, and why do you call him Fido?"

"Oh I wouldn't do so in SCHOOL," said Iris. "It's his Marauder name, because of being a dog animagus and the pleasing alliteration of Fido with Fraser. Marauders isn't a club or a gang, it's a lifelong commitment to fight for justice, and if you want to be a part of it you need to take it seriously as well as having fun."

"If David Fraser reckons he feels right, I reckon he'd shake down to be right, even if he is giving us a supercilious stare and…and a celebrated sneer," said Harry. Severus Snape was well known to him, and Gilbert and Sullivan were as familiar as Kipling.

"Oh, Daddy does arrogant as armour too," said Iris, "I hadn't even hardly noticed; it just makes him look like any random one of my brothers."

"So much for my assumption of automatic superiority," said Ivo.

"You ain't. Superior, I mean," said Harry. "There's a Snape in the class."

"I'm not as academic as some of my siblings," said Iris. "And there's a Chang up as well, Jun, he's Yulan's brother."

"He's not a Marauder type, though," said Harry. "He's a nice chap, but…"

"He's a bit of a clown, which wouldn't preclude him," said Iris, "but as you say…"

"It's marvellous the way you know everyone!" marvelled Arzad.

"Not really," said Harry. "I grew up here on the Malfoy estate, and the Snape kids and Malfoy kids and all their friends knock around together. Amy Charlotte's mum flies Lucius around in his mugglecopter so she knows everyone who turns up, too, including the secondhand Malfoys who turn up from time to time in the village because of former Malfoys being naughty boys with village girls."

"We all know each other, you see," said Bakelinn. "It sort of goes with siblings and parents knowing each other."

"Linnie's brother is one of Gorbrin Malfoy's best friends," said Iris. "And if you've got any siblings, they will knock around with our younger ones too, now we know you."

"Well!" said Tagett, "There I was thinking it was all a sort of club for the pure-bred human families, but if friends and so on count as well, I was wrong."

"Malfoy Manor is the central hub of the fight against unfairness," said Bakelinn, "and I say, I like Linnie. It's not such a mouthful. I was named after some awful old great-aunt who had money, but she left it all to an owl sanctuary, so I got saddled with it for nothing."

"Poor you," said Arzad, "I thought it was a bit old fashioned."

Harry wondered if he was being racist in feeling a mild surprise that goblins also had batty old aunts whose names were imposed on babies in the hopes of legacy, and decided that it wasn't racism, just ignorance.

"I didn't know goblins had names that passed down too," said Ivo.

"I bet there's a lot you don't know about goblins," said Tagett. "But it's okay to just ask. We don't take offence. Our dad's a bit of an activist, but you can't expect people to listen to you talking about rights if they don't understand you. And you won't know if you don't ask."

"And that's why you two are right to Maraud," said Iris, "because you aren't racist like some goblin activists can be."

The twins exchanged a look.

"Y'know, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it is racism," said Arzad. "Dad always was more moderate than some, and he says that for people to hear you, you have to listen."

"And that, I guess, is why your dad is on the council and Golgo is not," said Jasper. "Uncle Arthur – he's not my uncle but it's easier than working out how many times of cousin he's been removed, which without a desplinching table is a bit hard – reckons Ragnok Pigeon talks a lot of sense. And I say, where is this Solly and why aren't we collecting him?"

Harry's face darkened.

"I bet Reedy has found him jobs to do to keep him from having fun," he said. "She hasn't got a clue, because Lucius is a very indulgent employer, but she's putting back the cause of freedom for elves by trying to make Solly be subservient."

"Reedy can be almost racist," said Amy Charlotte. "She hates Solly having any fun. Elves shouldn't have fun!" she added in a squeaky voice very much like Reedy's. Everyone who knew Lucius' kitchen tyrant fell about laughing.

"Let's go to the kitchens and cut him out," said Iris. "Reedy doesn't approve of me, by the way, but she doesn't know how to act towards me, because I'm the acknowledged daughter of a powerful wizard but I'm still half elf. But I happily give orders to servants and it offends her a bit. She can cope with Finn – Mrs Malfoy the fourth – because Finn is fey, not an elf, even though she is half-elf too. Her mother works at Hogwarts."

"And she's a bit equivocal about me, too," said Harry, "because my dad is one of the chauffeurs, but he's also The Muggle Who Dared, and own cousin to Harry Potter, and she's never sure if he gave up a prestigious job in the Muggle World and took a menial job in the Wizarding World just to be part of his cousin's world. And I like to keep her that confused too. Reedy's kind, but she has some funny views and she's a Tartar in the kitchen!"

"And she can't stand me, because I'm only a muggle servant's child," said Amy Charlotte, with some resentment.

The seven children went off towards the kitchens of Malfoy Manor, and as they came up the black and white tiles of the rear passageway through the servants' quarters, they could hear Lucius Malfoy's voice.

"Reedy, you have no right to keep the boy from making friends. This is why I have these meetings, to give the kids a chance to meet others and make friends, and get a good start at school. I could almost think you want Solly to fail so you can keep him like a slave forever. Did I give twelve drops of my heart's blood for nothing? Do you WANT the high fey to win by keeping elves in subjection?"

"But it isn't right, Master Lucius, for him to be thinking he's as good as Miss Lucasta!" wailed Reedy.

"Why not?" said Lucius. "He's a bright boy. He might even be better than Lucasta. And she won't get snotty about it. At least, she'd better not," he added.

"I doesn't see why I can't be as good as anyone, mum," said Solly. "I am free; I have clothes. And I can do well at Hogwarts and make Mr Lucius proud of me. Because his elves are all going to be educated and more betterer at working for him."

"Or for anyone you want to, including yourself," said Lucius. "Reedy, you're acting like my revolting sister in the way she mistreated Sephara."

That was a palpable hit.

Reedy was now able to consider Odilia Malfoy-Yaxley with all the dislike she felt for her, and to feel sorry for Sephara, treated abominably as a supposed squib.

"But…but what will other elveses think?" she wrung her hands. "Reedy has tried to stop him being such a cheeky boy, but he will go and talk to the little masters and mistresses and they will despise him!"

"No we won't, Reedy, and you know it," said Harry, walking in. "Solly, we came to collect you; you didn't ought to have chores when it's a weevil fest. And we need to sort out your proper shape and uncurse you before you get your school uniform."

"Quite right too," murmured Lucius. "Well said, Harry; must be something in a name. Can you lot manage a chant of that complexity already?"

"We were going to ask Lilith or someone," said Iris. "Fido gave us some pointers."

"Oh, Lilith is more than capable," said Lucius. "But if you go into my library, and look at the red-bound notebook in the section on curse-breaking you'll find the notes I made. If you can understand them, you are capable of doing it. If you can't, then get someone else to help you."

"Thanks, Lucius!" said Iris.

"I know where the book is!" squeaked Solly, grabbing Iris by the hand. They ran after him, and were soon immersed in the rather technical Arithmancy of Lucius' notes.

"We need help," said Iris.

"That's an admission from a Snape," said Harry.

"A wise person knows his limitations," said Ivo.

They decided to go for help to Sevvy, Tarquin and Salazar, who were only two years older than themselves, and as Iris said, they'd have enough lectures at school without inviting any from Lilith before getting there.

"Bossy, is she?" asked Jasper. "I'm glad I'm the oldest; bossy big sisters must be the pits."

"Of course she's bossy; she's cleverer than a cave full of pit vipers," said Iris. "And I'm dead proud she's my sister. It's just that it seems daft to invite being told things we won't remember in about thirty dead languages to prove a point we won't get anyway when Tarquin will only be snide, Sevvy sarcastic and Salazar arrogant. Lilith will do all of those, but in one person it's a little overwhelming, and besides, I have a cat's chance in hell of dropping a jinx onto any one of the boys. Salazar was fostered by my parents when his mum was ill, and Tarquin is my cousin and is like a brother, so they might as well all be my brothers and so jinxing them is okay."

"Oh, fair enough," said Jasper.

The group now consisted of eight children which was bad luck by anyone's reckoning, as Arzad said, but numbers where what you made of them, and good luck to have a go if the older ones could help, even if they didn't have a Chang to use the good luck of the power of eight in Chinese numerology.

"If we had a Chang we'd be up to nine anyway," said Jasper with unanswerable but rather too literal logic.

"And we might pick up a ninth to square three anyway," said Amy Charlotte, who had at least been well drilled in mathematics by her mother and Arithmancy by older Malfoys. She was hoping that her older siblings might be joining her in Hogwarts now their mother had all but won a custody battle with their father, who had insisted on them going to a muggle school in America. The logistics of the matter would be arranged by Lucius, of course, so it would go smoothly, but Amy Charlotte's brother Andy might have to go into the first to keep up and the others given extra coaching.

oOoOo

Tarquin, Sevvy and Salazar listened to the request. Sevvy had, like all his elven and half-elven siblings, been chanted to a taller form shortly after the end of the previous school year as Severus ruthlessly uncursed all the elves under his protection. The Austrian school elves had been quite as conservative as Reedy but they were starting to live up to having to walk taller, as their powers were not diminished. Lucius had actually been wondering about forcibly uncursing all his elves too, but his quixotic streak left him wanting his elves to want to want it.

"It wasn't that hard a chant," said Sevvy, "and I wrote it down because I figured I might need it."

"Lucius has notes," said Iris, "But they're out of my league."

"This is why we keep Tarquin," said Salazar. "I expect Richard could have unravelled them, you know, if you wanted to keep it in Marauding."

"He might well, but we wanted to be certain, and besides you lot are less snide than he and Drogo," said Iris.

The older boys looked at each other, and shrugged. She had a point.

"Well, no time like the present," said Salazar. "The winter solstice is always the best time for unravelling fey curses but this one ain't as profound as the self-punishing curse. Only let's put up a line of exclusion first; you can't be too careful where the fey are concerned. Constant vigilance!"

Knowing what they did about the fey, those who recognised Salazar's stepfather's watchword did not even tease him about it, but nodded seriously.

"So what are these fey?" demanded Tagett.

This necessitated explanations that covered the self-punishing curse, and Lucius' sacrifice and how some chants made NEWT look like a breeze, and gave Tarquin time to complete his calculations uninterrupted. The Pigeon twins were suitably impressed!

"Dad says there used to be people who wanted goblins to be made more like elves," said Arzad. "I have to say, I'm all for making elves more like goblins. Even if it is partly because it might stop giving people ideas."

"Teaching them to want to be free is one of the hard parts," said Iris. "Look at Reedy! And she's well treated, and not downtrodden at all, in fact she bullies Uncle Lucius something rotten. But she disapproves even so, deep down, of free elves, and think how much worse it is for the totally downtrodden elves, who are afraid of freedom, because they don't know how to make decisions for themselves. That's why I sat so hard on Zaerna, 'cos I heard how offended the Hogwarts elves got when Hermione Granger kept knitting hats for them to find."

"It isn't an easy job, is it?" said Jasper.

"The capacity for human – sentient I should say – self delusion appears to be considerable," said Ivo.

"Crumbs, Ivo, mate, you even sound like a Snape!" said Harry. "Are we ready to chant over Solly yet?"

"I hope so!" squeaked Solly. "I don't want mum to catch us and put a stop to it!"

"I have it," said Tarquin. "Iris, can you do the dance Lydia did when you and the others were done?"

"Yes," said Iris. "If Sevvy will do it with me; it goes in and out of fey space."

"Well you two do that and most people can hold this chant, and we'll do the fiddly bits," said Tarquin. "Quick practise…"

Most of those accustomed to knock around Malfoy Manor were well accustomed to the concept and skills of chanting; anyone who was even a sensitive, like the Dursleys and Mrs Gardiner had been roped in to support the strengthening of wards major that needed reinforcement every now and then. Harry and Amy Charlotte had been chanting as long as they could remember, like Iris.

Tarquin wanted to assess for himself, however, and was glad he had done so. He rapidly stopped the practice.

"Oh Jasper," said Iris, "Can't you keep in time?"

"Not if we have to sing it," said Jasper. "I'm tone deaf."

"Clap this rhythm then," said Tarquin, improvising. "Not that I'm surprised, Ron can't hold a tune in a sack and he has two left feet unless he's on a broom."

"Maybe I should stay out altogether," said Jasper.

"You keep cave for Reedy," said Harry "and if you get any hunches, that's your field, and you can tell us."

Jasper gave him a grateful grin that he had remembered, and for giving him credit for a specialist field. It wasn't easy looking like a chump in front of his new friends!

The chant was duly accomplished, and none of the chanters knew that Lucius was keeping a surreptitious eye on them in case they needed helping out. Lucius' own blood sacrifice meant that his very presence helped any curse-breaking efforts against the fey, and Lucius did not want to take any chances of the chant going wrong for Solly. On the other hand he did not want to take away the chance of this new group to be largely a part of helping one of their own. Letting children find things out whilst protecting them as much as possible was a fine line to tread; Lucius, who was used to treading fine lines in all sorts of ways, felt he managed it reasonably well. And at least he had sensible wives who permitted their children to take calculated risks, not like poor Molly Weasley. Jasper Weasley's mother at least was a Kettleburn, and they were usually quite down to earth.

Solly was delighted with his new shape and shook hands all round, falling over his own feet as he had to learn where the rest of him was. Lucius wandered in with some new clothes, which, said Iris sagely, meant that Lucius knew all along that somebody would do it.

"Even if it was only him, because he wanted Sol to start school on a par with you Snapes," said Salazar

"Sol! I like that," said Solly. "Less silly than Solly, more grown up."

"There you go, the bigger the body, the smaller the name," said Ivo.

"Huh, by that token, Hagrid, who's half giant, ought to be a tittle," said Iris.

"You said what?" said Ivo.

"Tittle: the dot over the letter 'i'," said Iris.

"Which is nothing but a poor translation of iota, the smallest letter in the Greek alphabet, or keraia, the serif" said Tarquin, "and the original was 'not one iota, not one keraia', not jot and tittle."

"Snape," said Harry, as if that were all the explanation needed for that piece of deliberately caddish erudition.

"Prince, anyway, which is the same thing," said Tarquin, who was diplomatically surnamed Prince, which was his real name in any case, being the son of Crassus Prince, and being officially the son of Severin Prince, the pseudonym of Severus Snape as a council member. It was an open Marauding secret, but Tarquin did intend to keep it covered from non marauders to protect the only real father he had ever known, since Severus was such a shy and private individual.

oOoOo

Marauders further up the school were discussing how clever the headmaster had been; since it turned out that four of their number constituted half the fifth year prefect complement, and that was one from each house.

"Fido knows what's what, making one prefect in each house a Marauder and one not," said Lilith, "Though I'm puzzled about him choosing me; I'm two years younger than the rest of you oiks."

"Stands to reason, Halfpint," drawled Sextus, secretly delighted to be one of the prefects in Ravenclaw, "He knows you'll interfere anyway, so he just bows to the inevitable and made it official."

Lilith pulled her fluffy red eyebrows together in thought.

"You know, Sec, I reckon you might have it, at that," she said.

The others of their number similarly honoured were Venus Nightingale in Gryffindor, and Jayashree Pradhan in Hufflepuff.

"And Fido's right to celebrate there being any Marauders in Hufflepuff," said Gennar, "on account of how it ain't hardly likely to happen again. Our year's Huffers are awfully Gryffish."

"No need to be insulting," said Jayashree, throwing an apple at him. "We have a very pro-active group, and they all belong to the MSHG too."

"Which is a first," said Sextus. "When all the loveys who fetch up as Ravers are in the MSHG, the school will fall down in shock."

Sextus, being Ravenclaw, could get away with rueful acceptance of his house's failings.

"It's silly, really," said Lilith, "Because the MSHG doesn't half bring people on, and you'd think academic types like Ravers ought to have wanted to do that and look even smarter."

"Bite your tongue!" said Sextus. "Ravers are already perfect and don't need bringing on; didn't you know?"

"If I didn't know you were employing irony – no, with your house colours, coppery – I'd almost want to hit you for that attitude," said Lilith.

"Well as any true academic knows, there's always more to learn," said Sextus. "But we do get our share of drama queens."

"Yeah, and the female ones are even worse," said Kazrael.

If Kazrael and Gennar were at all disappointed that Lilith had been the Slytherin Marauder chosen, and not either of them, on grounds of being older, they had not shown it. After all, both freely acknowledged that where Lilith led, they all followed. The rest of the group were the lone Marauders in their respective houses, so had no such soul searching. And Kazrael and Gennar both had plans to be sufficiently model pupils to be the two made up to prefectship in the lower sixth!

"Reckon all the Huffers in our year will go on to NEWTs and not need the new Special Sixth?" asked Lilith.

"I think so," said Jayashree. "It seems a shame when David has gone to the effort."

"Well this year's lower sixth will still be there using it, and the year below us won't just have Huffers in it," said Lilith. "Several Slytherin aren't just poor at academe, some of them are positively moronic."

"And you need a pickaxe to find any original thoughts amongst some of the Gryffs," sighed Venus.

"It ain't too bad a bunch of Ravers, though," said Sextus, "in more ways than just ability."

"Three Raver Marauders might be helping that along," said Lilith. "Lumme, no japes this year, and concentrating on our studies. Aren't we getting old and staid?"

"The day you get old and staid, Halfpint, the world will faint in horror," said Sextus, and neatly switched direction of Lilith's jinxes in mid air with one lazy fingertip.

"Crumbs, Sec, you are better than any of the Sixth, I wish you'd enter the Triwizard," said Gennar.

"Huh, I might at that," said Sextus, suddenly. "Only like Lilith I'll confund it so we don't interfere with the chances of the others. Because we have a chance or two on a goblin or part goblin champion and that's politics, that is."

"Haha, I should think anyone will reckon that Hogwarts is greedy," said Venus.

"Well, face it, there's as many of us in each year as some of the other schools have in their schools," said Lilith. "Only Durmstrang is comparable in size, and I shouldn't put it past Zoltan or Sigismund to get in."

"Or Zhenga in Prince Peak," said Jayashree. "Your age-group is very talented, Lilith, almost across the board."

Lilith giggled.

"My wonderful influence," she said.

This could not be permitted to pass without something of a poking, and Lilith was duly poked, giggling wildly. Sextus particularly knew where she was ticklish.

oOoOo

Jade blew in to Malfoy Manor briefly, apologising that she had missed the weddings and explaining that one of her pupils had needed a little help.

"Wanda's grandfather owns a spring and clockwork factory, they make other small metal fitments too, and some underworld creep decided that he was going to corner the market," said Jade. "Wanda and friends were there, and when the creeps started trying to smash up the goods, they demonstrated how nicely they have learned to cast wandlessly, and then she used floo powder to contact me for help and advice. So I blew in with my Anwalt and persuaded the strong-arm men to tell us who they worked for, and then persuaded the chummer who sent them to retire from business."

"Persuaded?" said Lucius.

"Oh poor Wanda! How well she is doing, she was so quiet before!" said Biirta.

"Being loved makes a lot of difference," said Jade. Biirta flushed.

"Yes, it does," she agreed. "What did you do to the creep?"

"I gave him a self-punishing curse for every time he thinks of doing anything mean, underhand or violent," said Jade, calmly. "We may as well make use of it, and he has got elves, so I don't suppose he objects to the principle. They were none of them liveried."

Lucius roared with laughter.

"Somehow I suspect he DOES object to it on himself," he said.

Jade shrugged.

"That's his problem. Nobody asked him to be nasty. He can still make money – legitimately. It's a bit more complex than the boggart curse but a bit more sophisticated."

"And only those involved in undoing it in elves understand it well enough to use – or remove," said Lucius. "It took Severus and me years of research to come up with the counter, and I can safely say we are probably two of the top half-dozen wizards in the world."

"Who are the others besides Dumbledore?" asked Jade.

"You, your mother, and Lilith," said Lucius. "And actually I rate Zlatko Asimov up there too."

"Merlin's bollocks!" said Jade, startled. "Well, Lils certainly, and mum thinks outside the box Harry is powerful and Draco is clever but to be honest they are better in combination than either one on their own. Am I really that powerful?"

"It has to do with not admitting the possibility of the impossible," said Lucius.

Jade laughed.

"Well, the stuff I saw when I was growing up it's hardly surprising I don't believe in Impossible," she said. "Don't discount Lydia; she's quieter than I am but she runs very deep."

"There's a cadre of very powerful young witches and wizards trained by Severus and by you, who are, er, more powerful than some can possibly imagine," said Lucius.

"Had need be, with irritants like Achille around," said Jade. "We have some good staunch fighters. How goes the Egypt project?"

"Very well, he's following up the clues that are just difficult enough to make him work," said Lucius, "and a few from Lilith too complex for him without seeking help, which means his suspicions really should be allayed."

"Good," said Jade. "Well, I have to be back to Germany; the ex-director has just given birth to twins, and my idiot man of honour, Ritter Kesselring, thinks he should adopt them as he is making it his hobby to make the man – girl – person – unhappy."

"Difficult finding pronouns too for someone with a personal sex change," said Lucius. "Are you leaving him that way forever?"

"No, the maximum time of misery he caused any one girl was four years. It seemed a reasonable sentence," said Jade. "But I'll make sure he's impotent, I think. No point tempting him back to his old ways."

"If Herr Kesselring – er, Ritter – adopts the babies, will Magda then be their mother?" asked Biirta.

"Well, as Ritter went haring off to see her at the Ferret's castle bearing babies with him, to ask her what she thought, and she insisted that they were his responsibility and hers, since it was her plight that angered me in the first place enough to do him so thoroughly – where was I?

"Lost in a plethora of nested sentences," said Lucius.

"Oh yes, Magda has taken them on like a good 'un," said Jade. "They are calling them Friedolf and Philomela."

"Well, those sprouts are lucky," said Lucius. "As are most in the orphanage now."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Biirta was happy. She and her brother and sister would never have to worry again, now that Lucius had accepted the two younger ones as his wards. Heloise fitted in with the other young Malfoys and was indistinguishable from the others her age, and if she was not as horsy as some of them, she rode comfortably and with ease now, and was happy on a broom too. Petrus was a much happier young boy, and though he was not especially close to the Malfoys his own age, he was at least confident in being a quidditch hero for his age in Hufflepuff house. The apathy which had descended upon him when they had been taken into the orphanage had gone, and though Petrus would always seek the easiest path, he was at least no longer a bump on a log – Biirta loved that term of Narcissa's – and was ready to pull his weight. Petrus had, in fact, discovered that he liked being approved of, and this was helping to instil some good habits.

"You'll be the Schloss Adler Triwizard champion, won't you, Bii?" he asked his sister.

Biirta shrugged.

"Gunnar Heuvormund is taking more ZHs than I am, and he's clever," she said. "He is also of the blood of the Von Strangs."

"Oh, but you are awfully quick at learning things," said Petrus, "And you do clever stuff with Ancient Runes. You are dedicated to spend hours shut up with Lucius pouring over such stuffy stuff."

Biirta hoped her blush was not too obvious. There were distinct advantages to being shut up for hours with Lucius, even if he did keep her nose to the grindstone before kissing her thoroughly. And there was nothing like a bit of love-play for practising simple charms and transfigurations. Switching someone's clothes for a nightshirt meant she would never have trouble with switching spells ever again! Narcissa had stepped in at that point to separate them firmly, but succeeding in something that was fun as well as challenging had boosted Biirta's confidence no end.

"I do like learning more," admitted Biirta.

"And that's why I reckon you might be IT, our Bii," said Petrus. "I'll have to cheer for our champion as well, of course."

"Yes, of course," said Biirta. "Who do you think it'll be?"

"Jingjie Chang," said Petrus. "He's brilliant. All the Changs are."

"I wish we had a brilliant goblin or half goblin to represent the school," said Biirta. "I accept that I am in with a chance, but though Shizue is brilliant on a good day, she's human too. Gauda is very solid against trouble, and of the goblins besides Gauda, Kole is a bit weak on the practical side, and Ktell is a reasonable all rounder. And the rest are human and a bit mediocre," she made a face "Though perhaps it's a bit cheeky to say so, especially as they've had education before."

"But we didn't half get pushed," said Petrus. "Even though I was only there for a term and not being accelerated, I was well up in class at Hogwarts. And it was a nice feeling, as well as not wanting to do holiday work, so I'm actually in the top group in all my lessons."

"I'm proud of you, Petrus," said Biirta. "And who knows, one day you may be a Triwizard contender."

Petrus laughed.

"I'm not that keen on extra work!" he said. "But I know you'd like to. You're sort of sweet on Lucius, aren't you?"

"You noticed?" said Biirta, thinking it something that was pretty obvious.

"Well, I wondered," said Petrus, plainly thinking he had been very perspicacious. "And I know he does take spare women, so I guess if you can impress him, he might do."

"Petrus, I've been asked if I'll be Madam Malfoy number five when I leave school," said Biirta, "and I said yes please. I don't need to impress Lucius; but I would like to do well because he'd be proud of me," she added.

"Good grief!" said Petrus. "He is a fast worker! Well, if it's what you want, he's a rather decent in-law to have. He – I am glad he gave me incentives to do well. I owe him. Please don't split up from him, will you? I don't want to leave Malfoy Manor."

"Lucius promised me that you and Heloise would have a home with him whatever I decided," said Biirta. The selfish streak wasn't all eroded! But it was not unreasonable; being used to luxury and security, it would be hard to give it up.

"Excellent! Lucius is a – a good egg," said Petrus, who was apparently learning the English idiom. He was enjoying being an English schoolboy, and was much looking forward to going with Lucius to purchase his second year books, when as a wart he would feel superior to all the young weevils. Except Harry Dursley and friends perhaps. Harry reminded Petrus altogether too much of Ulvik Von Luytens, who made him a little nervous. It was, he was certain, the Marauder effect. Petrus had no intention of bullying any new weevils, and would never get away with it with any Marauders anyway, but he did hope to seem superior and knowledgeable to new ones, and show them the ropes.

Biirta guessed some of this.

"I know that Hufflepuffs are considered kindly and helpful, and that you will do your best for the newcomers," she said. And if it was a heavy sisterly hint not to be anything but kindly, Petrus took the comment at face value and preened that now she might trust him to do so. Biirta hoped that he would!

oOoOo

Petrus found Diagon Alley a bit of a shock at the time of year that the entire wizarding school world of England was visiting it; Lucius had taken him to get kit, and there had been a few other schoolchildren stocking up, the previous Yule, and academically Petrus knew that it would be filled with children in August. The reality however was more overwhelming than he had anticipated.

It was definitely overwhelming to the obvious muggle boy and his father, who were gazing about with something between fear and horror.

Petrus had grown up with the usual prejudices against muggles, assuming them to be little above animals in intellect, but the inculcation of muggle studies both at Schloss Adler and at Hogwarts had taught him a great deal, as both schools employed muggles to teach the subject, a rather pointed object lesson regarding the intellect of muggles.

"Hello," said Petrus. "It's a bit much for you new oiks even if you are brought up in the Wizarding World, it's very brave of muggleborns to deal with Diagon Alley."

"Is this a film set or something?" asked the small boy.

Petrus knew what a film was; the English Customs Club and the Muggle-studies Hobby Group both watched films. He was a bit hazy what a film set was, but he said,

"No, not at all. You're here for your school kit, right? Starting Hogwarts?"

"We were looking for Smith's Bookshop," said the boy, "and we stopped at a pub to ask directions and they made us come through a wall. We found a bookshop called 'Flourish and Blott's' but the youth behind the counter seemed to have more spots than brain cells, and kept saying 'eh?' to all our questions."

"Oh, yes, he doesn't use boil cure potions because he things it cures cauldrons of boiling, Lucius says," said Petrus. "Didn't you just show him the book list from Professor Fraser?"

"I think, young man, you've misunderstood," said the boy's father. "We, er, know nothing about a school."

"Himmel!" said Petrus, startled out of English. "But if you can see the Leaky Cauldron you ought to be at school with other wizards… I know, we'll ask Lucius."

Lucius was easy to find, being inclined to carry an aura of what Biirta called 'Luciusness' before him, and Petrus scrambled through an explanation, dropping into German.

"Are you German?" asked the boy's father.

"No, but my ward here is," said Lucius. "He's done very well at school working in what is, for him, a second language. Do you live near an electricity sub station or something?"

"I work at Sizewell Power Station," said the man. "I didn't get your name?"

"Lucius Malfoy. Wiltshire," said Lucius. "And you?"

"Peter Ledbury. My son, Simon," said Ledbury.

"Well, Mr Ledbury, I suggest you and I and young Simon retire to Fortescue's for ices and I'll test young Simon to see if he's eligible for a scholarship at Hogwarts… if he wants to study to be a wizard of course. And Petrus – well done," added Lucius, drawing off the muggles. Petrus felt proud and pleased; he had received praise from Lucius because he had done the right thing. He couldn't see any reason any muggle wouldn't want the chance to become a wizard, and if the boy was scared, Lucius would soon sort any fears out.

He was right; Lucius, being Lucius, managed to overwhelm, persuade and sort out Simon Ledbury, whom he deposited on sundry other would-be weevils whilst Lucius bore off Ledbury senior to the Leaky Cauldron for a long cool mead and much explanation. Mr Ledbury was a widower, so there was nobody else requiring explanation; and he could afford to pay for Simon to go to Hogwarts, which did not charge as much for snob value as many muggle public schools. Simon was a mildly confused, but very excited little boy, and the Malfoy hangers on were dutifully kind to him until Petrus caught up with them and asked how it was going, when they promptly palmed Simon off onto 'a big boy who will show you more'. Even kindly Amy Charlotte was beginning to find Simon just a little bit too serious when there was exciting business to address like discussing japes, and when Weasley's Wizard Wheezes beckoned.

It may be said that it rather tickled Petrus to be hero-worshipped a little bit, especially when Simon shyly told him that Petrus was a name like his own father's. By the time Simon had all his kit, he was determined to be in Hufflepuff house and to be good at quidditch.

Petrus had met up as well with his own fellows, but muggleborn Stephen Templeton was more than happy to help another muggleborn lad, and so was pure bred Alexander Bones, both cronies of Petrus. They explained about goblins and elves to Simon, and told him that he mustn't mind the Black-Weasley goblins who were also warts, as they were – which necessitated telling Simon that he was a weevil – as they weren't like a lot of others of their ilk, either Black-Weasley OR goblins. It was all rather muddled, but Simon got the gist.

"They were born lazy and worked hard to get more horizontal," said Petrus, with the superiority of someone who had got over being lazy. "Their sister is a Marauder and she just despairs of them."

More explanations were forthcoming about Marauders and Simon agreed fervently with Petrus that Marauding sounded a very uncomfortable undertaking. This fulfilled the expectations of the Snape-Malfoy weevils and friends who considered him a bit of a poor prune as far as having fun was concerned, whilst granting him kudos for coping with becoming part of a larger world without even owning a lightsabre.

Willow Black had, however, issued him with a wand without question, which to Lucius had been a clincher; oak, fourteen inches, hippogriff tail-hair core. About as pedestrian as a wizard usually got, but unquestionably a wizard.

oOo

Meanwhile the Marauders had decided that Amy Charlotte was a pretty name but didn't shout well, and had renamed her, first AC – Tagett's suggestion, which had led to a bit of a scuffle when Iris made sarcastic remarks about how remarkable it was that a boy knew his alphabet – and then Ace, because as Harry pointed out, Amy Charlotte already knew the rudiments of how to fly the pale blue helicopter, and an ace was someone who was pretty good at flying. Amy Charlotte quite liked the nickname but made protest as a matter of principle.

"Well, at least I have a name that's different to every other Ron, Hermione and Harry," she said with some asperity.

"At least mine's a family Harry," said Harry. "And I think Amy Charlotte is really pretty, just like you," he added blushing, "but you know…"

"It's a bit hard to pull a jape if we spend all our time saying 'Bakelinn and Amy Charlotte' rather than 'Linnie and Ace," said Iris.

"I concede the point, but I want it known that I protest it on principle," said Amy Charlotte with what she fondly hoped was dignity.

"Great principles, kid, don't get cocky," said Iris. The quote was well mangled but it had to be done.

oOoOo

While the Hogwarts children got ready to start their new year, Severus received his postgraduate students. It made life easier to let them shake down together before the distraction of excess children arrived, and some of the adults he had had in the past had been a little taken aback by the range of knowledge of the resident children, and it was as well to get through any silliness that might arise from that as quickly as possible.

This year saw eleven post-graduate students, which would have been a number that would have horrified Severus had not a sufficiency of them been something of a known quantity. Mungo Fraser was quite happy to pursue his own course of research into shapeshifters, and would flit about the world to that end, probably asking to borrow some backup in more exciting regions. That was no trouble. Doubtless the ever-curious Zlatko Asimov and his sister Zlatka would be willing to accompany him; they were scholars for the sake of it, especially Zlatko, and never passed up the opportunity to learn more. Zlatka had serious and defined purpose in coming to Prince Peak, as she wanted to develop her Divination skills beyond what she had been able to achieve at Durmstrang, with some help by correspondence from Albert Macmillan, and less than one year of proper teaching from Salvia Pippin now that Durmstrang took Divination seriously. Zlatko was exploring Comparative Magic and anything else that came his way, but would not be averse to side trips for fun.

More or less known quantities would be Guy Speedwell, Mafalda Prewett, Amyetis Al-Sharu, Amos Leroy, Ignaz Muller and Elise gan Garik. Guy, having left Hellibore's, wanted to cover a deeper look into magic generally, and pursue his love of music into magic. Severus hoped that he and Amos would be able to work together; the young man had moved forward from being a Ravenclaw diva generally dubbed 'the caterwauling crow' and as he had admired Lydia, might accept her teaching him chanting.

Amos would be sponsoring a child to Prince Peak the following year, a child with a pure voice, who was currently being taught by the ghostly Miss Bat whilst Amos was himself engaged in learning. The child, who only knew her first name, Marigold, was an orphan who had been singing to earn enough to eat when Amos had found her. Arranging for her to be a pensioner in Schloss Adler so she could be near the person who had rescued her was easy enough, and it gave Miss Bat useful employment, which delighted her no end. Especially now she could use a form of Protean Charm to play the piano. And she might also teach Marigold such useful skills as reading, writing and numeracy, which Amos had neglected in his delight in the little girl's voice. Poor Amos had not had a very balanced upbringing, and though a few years as a ward in custody of a Quaestor had given him a better idea of family life, along with his correspondence with Gorbrin Malfoy-Tobak, he still fell down a little on perceiving what should have been obvious.

Mafalda Prewett was a scholar's scholar, and had plans regarding taking over Branard Corbin's school for vain and silly girls, as Severus referred to it. Apparently Genavka and Griselen Malfoy-Tobak and their boyfriends, Hugin and Munin Corbin had shown an interest in helping her, so maybe it might turn into a college worthy of the name. She would be no trouble, and would soak up knowledge happily in the stress-free learning environment of Prince Peak. Severus had needed to have a Quaestor's letter sent to the Prewett parents over their claims that Mimi had her qualifications falsely, and they were also being sued by Lucius AND the Ministry of Education over their disparagement of Gorbrin's achievements, so Mafalda would be glad of a comfortable and peaceful environment.

Amyetis Al-Sharu was a protégé of Darryl Zabini, and a member of the Blood Group. She was studying demonology and blood magic in a defensive capacity, and general ritual besides. Like Zhanargul Nurtazin, she needed strength to counter reactionary and unpleasant forces in her own country. She would prove no trouble, and would probably get on reasonably well with Mafalda, having a similarly serious mindset. If they did get on, it might even bring Mafalda far enough on to blood in, which the Belle Marauders had never been entirely comfortable with before. Although she might, of course, just keep herself to herself and interact largely with Zlatka and Zlatko as the other Blooded.

Ignaz Müller was the older brother of Valerie, who was in Jade's school, and whose father had done a year with Severus to be able to teach Geomancy. Ignaz was also rather good at instinctive Geomancy, and as a rare skill to teach was keen to learn more. He would learn that and Arithmancy, and should be no trouble; he was very keen. As Guy was also hoping to learn some Geomancy, they would be able to work together on that.

Elise Gan Garik was the half-goblin foreman of a factory owned by one Walther Steck, grandfather of one of Jade's pupils. Apparently his granddaughter Wanda had engineered a romance between Walther and Elise, and Elise wanted a rounded education both to be permitted to carry a wand, and to be able to give more to her lover's factory. She would be unlikely to be anything but a delightful pupil.

The unknown quantities, though fairly well guessed at, were the two Russian students. They had both been competitors in the three-school duel who had been impressed by the standards of Prince Peak and sought to learn more. Domna Motyilekova was purely interested in learning, it seemed, and was not especially bothered by the races of other scholars once it was demonstrated to her satisfaction that they were capable; Leesitsa Zloyina had been more shocked, and was inclined to be out for the main chance. A Slytherin's Slytherin in many ways, but shrewd enough and likely to be capable of learning the facts of life. She was probably a spy for the Pure-Bred School, as the name was translated, but that was immaterial. They could not learn a secret even when it was told to them in plain speech as they refused to believe that Love was the key to all, and that a willing sacrifice enhanced blood magic. She would become one of his followers or she would leave feeling discontented that she was still unable to find the key. That was up to her.

And now he must meet all of them.

oOoOo

Mafalda Prewett was busy explaining what Marauders were to the two Russian girls when Severus entered the room where they were all to meet; apparently the Asimov twins and Amyetis had revealed themselves as Marauders.

"I'm not a Marauder," Mafalda said, with perhaps a tinge of regret to her voice. "I had the opportunity, but I threw it up. Maybe if I'd had different parents, and hadn't been so worried about making the right grades I'd have taken the chance."

"Why, then, do these Marauders avoid getting good grades?" said Leesitsa, looking scornfully at Zlatko. "I have five of the higher qualifications you know."

"Is that all? I knew the school for blood snobs and wankers was bad," said Zlatko, looking bored.

Mafalda laughed.

"Oh, Marauders are the brightest and best," she said, "but like you, I misunderstood, because they learn a lot of their esoteric knowledge in library work for the purpose of really original japes. One of the Hogwarts Marauder groups taught the stuffier academics that when you find what might be dark magic, you really ought to consult a professor. They set up what appeared to be a diary of Voldemort's and the silly creatures who found it wouldn't tell anyone because they wanted to look wonderfully clever. They looked wonderfully foolish when they found it full of the words 'April Fool' on the first of April. And that bunch of Marauders are clever enough to have planted written compulsions so that they made worse asses of themselves, but they were too restrained."

"Nonsense; it is impossible to implant a written compulsion!" said Leesitsa.

"You reckon?" said Zlatko. "Then you won't mind reading this," and he wrote carefully on a piece of paper he conjured.

"I don't see why I should read it," said Leesitsa sulkily as he handed it to her.

"Scared, are you?" said Zlatko. Leesitsa flushed and snatched the paper from his hand. She read it through and began singing the Song of the Volga boatmen, except that the words Zlatko had laid down made it a song of some rather vulgar boatmen. She finished the chorus and stared open mouthed in horror.

"You – you are terrible!" she said.

Severus moved forward.

"Zlatko is one of the more able warlocks of his age," he said. "I would consider him worthy of being counted amongst the most formidable wizards in the world; and I know that both Lucius Malfoy and Eduard Von Frettchen rate him highly. Don't get cocky, kid," he added.

Zlatko grinned and bowed floridly.

"Once your daughter took over my education, sir, all kinds of possibilities opened," he said. "I'm almost glad I'm too old for the Triwizard though; I might compete with Jade but I haven't a cat's chance in Hell against Lilith."

"Oh Lilith is exceptional," said Severus, "but she can make mistakes, and she WILL still take shortcuts which aren't necessarily the best way. I look forward to seeing how well she does, assuming she does manage to confund the Goblet of Fire and get into the competition."

"Who then is this Lilith?" asked Domna.

"My daughter," said Severus. "She's thirteen. She'll be eligible, just, to do the next Triwizard, though by then she might be too busy with real academic study to care."

"Like me," said Zlatko. "Agata asked me to stay on and I said 'no'. Let one of the Owlglasses do it; they'd enjoy it."

"You're one of a handful who could beat Lilith," said Severus, amicably. "I did wonder if you would stay on."

"Oh, it'd be a bit of a yawn, really," said Zlatko. "Here I get the chance to do real stuff; and what can I do at Durmstrang save maybe take another seven ZH's, only oh wait, they don't offer enough."

"Snide creature, Agata HAS started up a heap more," said his sister, poking him.

"Well, yes, but then she doesn't offer ritual magic and the chance to pretty-please my way into Lucius Malfoy's library," said Zlatko.

Leesitsa was still spluttering somewhat.

"I requested the opportunity to stay on and do the Triwizard and was told others should have the chance," she said.

"Because they wanted you spying on Professor Snape when he was distracted by his pupils being involved in it," said Domna, equably. "I considered it a waste of time."

"Heh, either one of you might have been a decent bit of competition," said Zlatko. "You were both pretty nifty in the duelling."

"And the current eldest are not so flexible as we," said Leesitsa, resentfully.

"Their loss," Mungo Fraser put in the comment. "Sev, are we going to have kaffee und kuchen any time this week? only I'm starving!"

"You're always starving, Mungo; it comes of still growing," laughed Severus, and clapped his hands for the elves to bring in the coffee and cakes. The Russian elves had begged to be allowed to do this and swaggered in, wearing their liveries, sneering faintly at the two Russian girls. Even Domna looked a little taken aback, and Leesitsa looked angry. Elise was quietly chuckling, and remarked to a slightly taken aback Mafalda,

"This looks to be the result Professor Snape and his family have on people. I have seen the same from Frau Baronin Von Strang und Luytens' school."

"Oh, did you attend it?" asked Mafalda. Elise shook her head.

"No, I am here to catch up because it was thought I should do better with a small group. But the Frau Baronin came to extricate us from some trouble someone caused and her elves who came along for, er, shits and giggles, were like these ones, proud. I like it."

"I do too," said Mafalda, who was used to Mimi. "I was in a class with the Professor's adopted full-elf daughter, who is a Marauder and the most capable pupil in the year. She's teaching now."

"There have been many changes," said Elise.

Severus mentally shrugged. So much for his assumptions of who might pair up with whom in friendships, Mafalda and Elise appeared to be getting on like a cauldron on fire, and Amyetis had gone to talk to Domna and Leesitsa. Ignaz and Guy had drifted together in the spirit of listening rather than speaking out about things only at the edge of their understanding, and Mungo was watching with his usual amused aloof stance, that hid his social uncertainty from being no normal kind of shapechanger.

Well, they would shake down, no doubt.

oOoOo

David Fraser spoke seriously to Adam, Amanda and Andy Gardiner.

"You have, of course, been raised as muggles past the age when it is usually considered reasonable to begin an education – Adam at least, at sixteen, is almost of age in the Wizarding World. However, a close friend of mine, Lee Nuffield, who now teaches at Prince Peak school, did not find out about magic until he was seventeen, and has worked hard to learn all he can. If you begin school at Hogwarts, I shall require most of you to start below your chronological age, as if you had been ill, and if you wish, I will arrange timetables for you to take extra lessons at the weekends and catch up as far as possible. It's been done before; indeed, my guardian's daughter runs a school which brought on sundry sixteen year olds to be able to pass their equivalents of OWLs in one year. Not any great mix of studies; but Lucius has promised me that he will give you very rapid tasters to make sure that you can choose half a dozen subjects to work really hard at."

"It's not as though we can't translate Math to Arithmancy," said Adam, with his attractive light American accent.

"And Arithmancy is the basis of all higher magic," said Amanda, who listened to what interesting people said.

Andy just nodded.

"I'm going to place you, Adam, in with just a year below your chronological age," said David, "just for the company, and because this year's fifth are an extremely decent and able bunch who will rally round to help you out; especially Lilith Snape and her set."

"Heh, the genius," said Adam. "We heard of her. Mom has filled us in on a lot. Lucius let her have a ton of time-off to spend with us in the holidays, and I figure he'd have sorted us out into her custody earlier if there hadn't been political reasons he couldn't."

"Indeed," said David dryly, having heard Lucius on the subject. The American Department of Magic might not have been able to find its way out of a wet paper bag, in Lucius' estimation, but the White Council were as close as anyone got to a well-meaning Gestapo, and it would have been highly embarrassing for the British Prime Minister to have been had up for muggle confundment if Lucius had pulled strings over the tortuous custody laws muggles seemed to find necessary. On both sides of the pond, reflected David, wryly, recalling the authorities' refusal to allow him to live with his gran when he was orphaned. He went on, "I will have to trust you to some extent to discipline yourself with not overworking. We have strict rules about not working in leisure periods or outside of the preparation rooms: I'll be giving you a dispensation to read text books and make notes in the common room so long as you don't abuse that and start writing essays."

Adam nodded.

"I'm not about to make myself ill with overwork, sir," he said.

"And us, sir?" said Amanda.

"I'll be putting you in the third, and Andy in the first with Amy Charlotte," said David. "You can elect to stay in those years and have a more comfortable ride, or you can take remedial lessons and move up as and when you earn a remove. Andy, I don't know if you might want to stay with your sister and Maraud; I believe she's in the incipient group."

"I don't join things," said Andy. "Sir. Thanks." He added. David nodded. It was not rudeness; it was just Andy. Lucius had told him this. David half suspected Andy of pulling further ahead than his chronological age. Well, during his tenure as headmaster, he had already had to deal with Walter Crabbe being behind himself and Lilith being more than ahead of herself, and already at thirteen with more qualifications than any random average half dozen students of eighteen. They were bright and interested children, and a shame they had been dragged down by their father.

As Severus was fond of saying, most kids would be fine if they weren't inflicted with parents. And how ironic, thought David, that his own parents would have been supportive of him, and he had to lose them; and people like Walter Crabbe had two awful parents, and Sextus Scarpin and these kids each had one who was less than ideal.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Lilith was only taking seven OWLs along with her classmates; which was most of the OWLs she had not already taken, bar Art and Quidditch which she planned to take the following year. She was taking just one NEWT, in Music. Sextus on the other hand, was taking nine OWLs, in addition to the five he had gained, all at 'O' grade, the year before. He was planning on taking them at NEWT the following year when there was less baloney and excitement. Jayashree, Kazrael, Gennar and Venus were taking what they claimed to be a 'fairly standard' ten OWLs apiece, not all of which were identical, and professed themselves happy to help Adam.

As one of the stories with which Adam was regaled was how Krait Malfoy, now Snape, caught up even when fighting Voldemort, Adam was determined not to fail to catch up over the year, to cover the basic classes Professor Fraser decreed that he would take. These were Arithmancy, Charms, Transfigurations, Potions and Defence Against the Dark Arts. With those basic tools of magic and a Patronus, he could progress as far as he wanted. David had every expectation that the lad would also pick up a significant amount of chanting, music, pattern magic, comparative magic and other jiggery pokery from the Stripy Marauders in a less formal fashion.

As Adam already knew how to cast Avocado Kedavra, the jellied furnunculus curse and the pustule popping curse by the time he had been outfitted with a wand, this was setting the pattern fairly nicely. And as Willow Black had turned up with three wands, the status of the older young Gardiners was in no question if anyone had had any doubts that the lot of them should be in Hogwarts. Adam, unsurprisingly, had protective oak, but with a dragon's heartstring core; Amanda had elm, the lady's tree, with its dark side, and an ashwinder spinal chord for its core; and Andy had beech, the scholar's wood, with occamy feather core. Willow said cheerfully that when she was making Amy Charlotte's Alderwood wand with Phoenix feather core she had seen the others and made them.

oOo

The heads of the houses were now known as well to the Stripy Marauders at least, and Adam was included in the discussion of who they intended to vote for, those of them who were prefects.

As those who were not prefects said, their views counted too, which led to a colourful little spell involving an illusory portrait of both Kazrael and Gennar counting in the sort of baby voice for which Chrys Lockhart as Chrysogon Rufus had once been famous. Lilith and Sextus duly retrieved their ears and eyebrows and restored the switched feathers from the pearlescent peacocks with an elegant piece of negligent wand work that made Adam gasp.

"Mind, I quite liked having iridescent eyebrows," said Lilith. "I might have to undergo a partial transfiguration."

"Poor Madam Hardbroom, having to have you in her house," said Sextus. "Are we voting for Zajala? She IS a Malfoy and she is rather good."

"She's also in with a shout for the Triwizard, and love her dearly as I do," said Zajala's brother Gennar, "I can't help thinking she might neglect headgirlery in favour of the Triwizard."

"Headgirlery?" queried Jayashree.

"It's a Malfoy and Snape thing, making up words," said Venus, lazily. "They can't be bothered to look for a dicker or a thesaurus so they just make them up and pretend it's clever."

This necessitated her having to extricate herself from being a purple sphere which fizzed gently, an unlooked-for effect from the fortuitous combination of spells Gennar and Lilith had used, which then had to be repeated on each other until the effect could be achieved controllably.

"He is right though," said Venus, once some semblance of order had been restored. "Zajala is good enough to go a long way, and in that case it's also not fair to make her be head girl too."

"Fido managed to be head boy and in the Lower Sixth AND win the triwizard," said Lilith.

"Yes, but he's the sort they then make into a headmaster," said Gennar. "Can you honestly see Zajala in a portrait next to Phineas Nigellus?"

"No, but the image of him frothing at a goblin headmistress is priceless," giggled Lilith. "Point taken. Well, we usually vote for the train prefect, don't we?"

"Kev would be a most steady head boy," said Jayashree. "And that's not just house partiality."

"No, it's a bit obvious, on thinking about it," said Lilith. "Roger Blake is a good chap, but a bit too obsessed with the Society Against Slavery; and Wendy Waffling is decent, but very Ravenclaw. Kevin Slugworthy it is then."

"And Sec had better help him with the train and take over as train prefect next year," said Jayashree, "Because, by golly, however much you lead us around, Fido is no way going to make you head of house, Lilith, until you're sixteen."

"No, and I wouldn't want to be," said Lilith. "Next year's head boy is a no-brainer, it'll be Nathan, and Sextus the year after. But meantime it's about time Hufflepuff had a head boy. It shouldn't lodge too long in one house, it's bad, and Hufflepuff haven't had one since wassisface who won the Triwizard with Harry."

"Poor Cedric Diggory," said Sextus. "Doesn't even have his name recalled."

"Well, he wasn't very memorable, was he?" said Lilith. "And he was daft enough to marry Cho Chang, now you've reminded me who he is."

"Not exactly a luminary of the Chang family," agreed Gennar, who had seen the Diggorys at functions Narcissa had run.

"Well, it doesn't matter about ancient history so long as we know what we're doing," said Lilith.

"Sorted, then," said Gennar. "Let's go and annoy Reedy and get her to bribe us with cakes to go away."

oOoOo

Amanda had been collected by those who would be in her class; which was to say the Lifemunchers.

"We aren't Marauders, but we support," said Salazar, "And I say, there isn't one of us who isn't capable of working for a remove, so I vote we all help Amanda and go for it."

Charlie Rawlins groaned.

"I'll need serious help to satisfy Aunt Connie that I can brew a potion well enough to go up," he said. "She poisons fourth years like Sev Snape used to, and I think I'd be dead."

"You'll be dead if you make free with Aunt Connieing Madam Hardbroom," said Naomi Cooper. "It's only us Slythers who get to call her Aunt Connie."

"Well if you didn't do it in the earshot of the rest of us, we shouldn't pick it up," said Charlie.

"We can do it," said Candace. "And I say, if Amanda's kid sister is going to Maraud, as it runs in families, are we going to bring in the older ones?"

"Bring in? What do you mean?" Amanda asked, suspiciously.

"There's a ritual which is passed down, and Marauders and their supporters do it, and some people are born fully, er, ritualled," said Salazar.

"It's blood magic," said Sevvy, bluntly.

"But you need to be sure to make a big commitment," said Tarquin.

Amanda shrugged.

"I don't know enough to make a decision," she said. "I want to make friends who like me for being me, not because there's any mutual gain in it."

"She'll do," said Bryony.

oOo

Andy gravitated towards Richard Snape and Drogo Malfoy who cheerfully loaned him their books to look at and told him that apart from the Marauders in the second, and a few Slythers, most of the warts were fairly ordinary types. This was a Snapism for not really poor prunes but not really people who any Snape would waste time talking to. Judging by the descriptions, Andy was inclined to agree, but then he wasn't planning on talking to anyone when he could get work done instead. He had no desire to Maraud, and proceeded to work through much of the first year books whilst waiting for the first of September.

oOoOo

Biirta had departed the comfortable atmosphere of Malfoy Manor as Jade opened her school early, mostly to get those scholars whose background did not include generations of educated people into the habit of learning again. Biirta had gone back a day earlier than she was required to do, in order to meet the twin babies Magda and Ritter planned to adopt; Friedolf and Philomela were quite sweet, but Biirta had to confess that she could not tell them apart.

"Really Bii!" scolded Magda. "What are you like!"

"Not that interested in babies in general, I'm afraid, unless they're ours – Malfoy wives, that is," confessed Biirta. "How are you planning to look after them in term time?"

"Well, Uncle Eduard," Magda flushed self consciously at being so familiar with Von Frettchen's name, "said he'd have them in his nursery if we wanted, but Ritter did not think it was a good idea to get them too accustomed to being brought up away from those who would be their parents, so we have hired a girl who was old enough to leave the orphanage but who did not want to be a maid and prefers working with children."

"Goblin, human or mix?" asked Biirta with mild interest.

Magda blinked.

"I didn't really notice," she admitted. "She's part goblin, I think, mostly human, but she won't get a decent job without time to make it respectable."

Biirta nodded.

"And she won't be prejudiced against them either; a full human girl who hasn't had education might resent adopted part-breds getting all the advantages of a wealthy family. I know the orphanage is working on eroding racial tensions but it'll be a long hard job."

Magda looked thoughtful.

"You have a good point there, Bii, I wouldn't have thought of it, I've forgotten to notice the differences."

"Good. You'll give those kids the self-confidence they need not to be upset when some other kids, human and goblin, won't play with them," said Biirta.

oOoOo

Others who had arrived early were the dozen or so would-be educated goblin nurses; they would not be mixing socially with the school as a whole, though when lessons proper started they would be sitting in with the classes of the new fourth form. Their purpose in coming early, and indeed they had spent half the holiday in the school, was to have an intensive course to bring them up to a level where they could work alongside the fourth, so that they might have as good a chance at a ZAP as possible. Any who shone might then continue with extra classes to work alongside the fifth, to study for ZPs, but the main purpose of the class was just to achieve wand carrying status for them. Healer Visick and his children had been helping them too, so that all the staff might have some time off. The nurses were studying Arithmancy, Potions, Transfiguration, Charms and Herbology, and a basis in how to deal with boggarts and simple curses, which was essentially their core curriculum, and the staff had arranged a rota whereby teachers of other subjects gave them tutorial time as most were quite capable of doubling up teaching subjects to a low level at least.

Biirta personally suspected that an unexpected side effect to their education would be the eye-opener they would receive when sitting in with the fourth, and seeing a total mix of humans and goblins, who did not even notice each other's races.

oOo

The Upper Sixth were to be early in case of any problems, and the Lower Sixth in order to welcome the five new pupils in their ranks. Two of these were the older twin sisters of Leta gan Duarto, Lena and Lola, who had managed to achieve three ZPs at the academy run by Wencelada Fernandez' mother, and though they had the extra subjects at ZAP to allow them to carry wands, the wanted to pursue their best subjects further. Both were taking Charms, Potions and Herbology, which was a fairly balanced set of ZHs, and might hope to work as apothecary assistants, potions manufacturers in a hospital, or teach one of their subjects.

Lena and Lola were more or less a known quantity; and the Lower Sixth had been warned not to let Lena carry Lola too much! However there were also to be three new pupils from other dame schools, two known to Herman Meyer and Jurgen Lötze, from the Berlin school, and one from Würtzburg.

Herman and Jurgen had suggested to their fellows that they meet before the new arrivals, which plan had been approved by the staff, and Herman spoke up.

"We got here first basically because my parents and Jurgen's are decent types who don't mind goblins, and because they encouraged us to mix with other people as people and without judging. My dad is quite active in goblin rights, and actually he now has a job in the goblin office."

"Yes, Herman, man, we know this," said Ervig gan Sabac, who was friendly with both human boys.

"It seemed worthwhile mentioning as background," said Herman, with a shrug, "because you and Safraxa know us, and because you might wonder why we came early and these other two are coming later."

"I have to say," said Ervig, "I assumed that in the desire for ZHs they are able to put aside any enmity they feel towards goblins."

"I'd hate to be intolerant," said Jurgen, causing laughter as he was about the most tolerant boy any of them knew, "but it's not untrue. However, I'd not go as far as to use a word like 'enmity'; they preferred to get their basic education away from goblins and I have to say I suspect they'll deal with it by ignoring you, Ervig, you, Safraxa, and the gan Duarte twins."

"That'll be a shock for them then," said Safraxa. "I don't intend to be treated as though I'm something nasty to brush under the carpet."

"We're here to help their education in more ways than qualifications," said Ervig. "Good to have the warning. What are their names?"

"Theodoric Kranz and Yrse Bahr," said Jurgen, promptly. "And of the two, Yrse is likely to make more complaint about being with goblins but at least she'll get it into the open."

The two goblins nodded.

"Well if the twins are very twinnish, I should think she might be pleased to have another girl to talk to," said Safraxa. "Unless the one from Würtsburg is a girl."

"No, Herr Professor Luytens said he is a boy, named Franz Eichwürtzel," said Herman.

"Let us hope he is not as stupid as an oak stump," giggled Safraxa, making play on the meaning of his name. "Did the Head say anything more?"

"Only that he is interested in being a curse breaker," said Herman. "We shall find out more when they all arrive. If they shake down it will be jolly to have a big class of nine pupils."

oOoOo

The twins were the first to arrive, halfway between bubbling with excitement and subdued by the size of the castle, and the concept of being in a big class with, as they were soon told, seven others.

"We'll do our best to fit in," said Lena. "Leta has told us a lot about school. We look forward to learning a lot, and to having the chance to play Quidditch too."

"When the others in the class arrive we can get to know each other with a knock-around," said Herman. "And unless any of the new ones hates it, I'll referee and we can play four-a-side because I do terrible things to brooms."

"He is rather hopeless," said Ervig. "Only Safraxa is any good out of us original four, though. But as your sister's rather good, maybe you'll both bring, er, lustre to our class."

Lola giggled, and Lena grinned cheerfully.

The Berlin pair arrived together, but as the lad from Würtzburg was only just behind them, Herman winked at Safraxa, who stepped forward with her hand held out.

"Welcome to the lower sixth," she said. "I believe two of you already know Herman and Jurgen; Ervig has also been with us from the word go. Lena and Lola arrived right ahead of you, they are from Spain, and I am Safraxa. It'll be nice to have another girl in the class as twins tend to be twinnish."

Theodoric was looking most pained, but kept his mouth shut, and shook hands – very briefly – with Safraxa. Franz shook hands and nodded greeting, as if he hadn't even noticed that she was a goblin, and the original sixth mentally gave him kudos for that. Yrse hesitated.

"I have never been so close to a goblin in my life," she said. "I hope you don't expect to think yourself better than me, just because you have been here for a while?"

"Oh no!" said Safraxa. "I know I'm better than you because I have more qualifications, as your little dame school can't hope to compete with a decent educational establishment. I also have better manners than to start any hassle, but I know when to lay them aside to finish it. If you are going to be racist, you are probably going to be sent home. I suggest you try to overcome your prejudices and get over yourself, because if you can try for the sake of your education, I wager that by Yule you won't even notice what race we all are."

Yrse opened her mouth and shut it again a couple of times.

"How many ZPs do you have?" she asked.

"Only seven. I came here without any real schooling at all, from a mining village, where we were prepared by being taught to read and write and figure, and a few simple charms, in theory only of course. Like Ervig, who comes from the same place as I do, I've been catching up with Herman and Jurgen. Only Ervig is cleverer than I am, and has nine ZPs, which is, I believe, as good as anyone in Durmstrang."

"And we both got eight," said Herman, nodding to Jurgen. "We kept up with the four we already learned, as you have, and did four others. Not the same ones," he grinned. "Jurgen is better at Dark Arts than I am."

"And I have no interest in History or Runes, even if it is supposed to help with Chanting," said Jurgen.

"However many subjects are there available?" demanded Theodoric.

This necessitated some counting on fingers.

"Sixteen," said Safraxa, who had got there first.

"That's impressive," Franz spoke for the first time. "The heads suggested I should learn chanting to ZP to help if I want to be a curse breaker, do you rate it, Jurgen, man?"

"Hell, yes!" said Jurgen. "It's the works; Ervig and I have fudged a few other things with a surreptitious chant or so. Enchanting is more or less a formalised part of it, combined with other disciplines and drawn from some goblin magic, as I understand it, I haven't really covered Comparative Magic though."

"And do you really rate Divination?" Yrse raised an eyebrow.

"For those with talent, the ability to control it is essential," said Safraxa. "None of us could divine much more than that it's nearly time for Kaffee und Kuchen, but for the kid now in the third who has prophetic and scary dreams, learning to control and interpret them is rather important. It's only become a soft option in schools which let people make up any old rubbish. It's only studied here in the first, to pick up anyone with talent, and by those who are worth training."

"Oh," said Yrse. It was undeniable that there were true seers after all. "I will try not to permit my prejudices get in the way of an education, er, Safraxa. But I am amazed that I could not tell if you were goblin or human to hear you speak."

"That's purely because most goblins grow up uneducated and speaking with a goblin accent because of that," said Safraxa. "But it's a good start to try to ignore race even if it is from enlightened self-interest."

"I resent that you have more ZPs than I have," said Yrse.

Safraxa shrugged.

"You could have come here at the same time as Herman and Jurgen," she said. "That's not my fault, so no point resenting me. The heads would have been happy enough to have you."

Yrse scowled.

"Don't be reasonable," she said. "I don't feel like it, especially with Theo bellyaching all the way here."

Safraxa laughed.

"Did you want an informal duel then to clear the air? I don't mind."

Yrse stared.

"You duel? Isn't that… well it's not what people of our class do."

"People of our class are now people of the class who will be going for the plum jobs alongside those from Durmstrang," said Safraxa. "That means when you have ZHs, you might find yourself at loggerheads with Freiherr Stuckup Von Muckamuck and only a duel will satisfy him."

"Blut und Blitzen! I hadn't thought of that!" said Yrse. "I wouldn't mind the odd practice duel then, but I don't want to fight you just because I'm feeling childish about having to be nice to you."

"Hell, our Yrse, if you can acknowledge that you feel childish, you're more adult than most," said Safraxa, and slipped a hand firmly and companionably into the human girl's arm. "We're happy to be blunt, you and I, so I'm sure we'll be friends. Howabout we all go and have a knockabout game of quidditch, girls against boys, a far more alien division than humans and goblins? The twins have a sister who is rather good, so we're longing to see how they fair."

Yrse did not shake off Safraxa's arm, but looked quite thoughtful.

"Could I study more ZPs?" she asked.

"Not a problem," said Safraxa. "In fact, I suspect the heads might well be suggesting it!"

oOo

Lena and Lola were, as suspected, quite adept with brooms, especially Lola, and the boys were thoroughly drubbed.

"You might well be head of games next year, Lola," said Safraxa, "Grelleg is going on a quidditch scholarship to Prince Peak, to be coached by Viktor Krumm next year, so we'll be short a head of games, and that means I shan't have to struggle with it. I'll be ceding my place on the first team to you with pleasure, because we might even run Prince Peak a close battle or two. Though not this year," she pulled a face.

"Why not?" asked Lola.

"All other sport is suspended in terms of fixtures for the Triwizard," said Herman, who had heard. "As we're all eligible to try for it, and because it eats into schoolwork enough having to go and support our champion if we are those who want to put in our names."

"And do you think you're good enough?" asked Theodoric, rather rudely.

"No, but I think Ervig is in with a shout, and Franz might be if he's an arithmancy star," said Herman. "But it's the duty of at least some of those who know fine well it's either going to be Gunnar or Biirta, oh, maybe Friedrich, to go and support."

"I wouldn't want the embarrassment of being on a team shown up for only the most rudimentary education to pass exams," said Theodoric. "To come so far so fast, you can't have learned anything in depth."

"Oh, you're jealous too, are you?" said Jurgen. "Well, you'd be wrong. And it's going to be an exciting contest, I reckon."

"I am not jealous!" said Theodoric too loudly.

The other boys looked at each other and shrugged, even Franz.

"I am most pleased to have the opportunity to carry study further," said Franz, "and I know I don't have the depth or breadth to try for the Triwizard, but I'll gladly support if needed. I am sure I can cover several ZPs over this year though, to increase my number of ZHs too."

"Oh, that's what Biirta did," said Herman. "Our head girl. She studied like stink and is keeping her nose to the grindstone to pull off five ZHs."

"I confess to being impressed," said Franz. "And I say, if you rate Ancient Runes for chanting, I only got a pass at ZP, do you think I'd be allowed to take it to ZH?"

"I should think that's more than in order," said Herman, dryly. "I only got 'E' on Potions, I'm taking ZH in Arithmancy and Transfigurations on the strength of 'A' in each. We aren't all E average students like Ervig who's pursuing his two 'O' grades too, Arithmancy and Herbology."

"Odd combination," commented Franz, looking at Ervig with respect.

"Not when you realise I want to be an engineer and to write a paper on how the ground below affects the species, colour and health of the plantlife above," said Ervig.

Franz pursed his lips in thought and nodded.

"I can see that," he said.

"And between us, you and I can pull Herman up to an E average in Arithmancy," suggested Ervig.

"And you'll help me with Chanting?" asked Franz.

"Most certainly!" said Ervig. "And I say, I'm going to take it to ZH; because the Frau Baronin used it to hold up the roof in the mine, so it could be very useful for an engineer!"

Lola giggled.

"Gluttons for punishment!" she said. "We are happy to take three ZHs, aren't we, twin, without any extra ZPs!"

"I might ask if I could sit in to learn more without taking other classes as far as exam level," said Lena. Lola scowled but said nothing.

"What other subjects will you study, Theodoric?" asked Jurgen.

"Huh, ZH's are hard enough without saddling myself with extra study," said Theodoric. "Don't let the goblin persuade you to it, Yrse; she's only setting you up to fail so she can crow."

"I want more out of life than four ZP's" said Yrse. "Though I don't think I could study them in one year whilst doing my ZH's too."

"The heads would let you stay on a year to do another ZH or two if you wanted," said Safraxa. "They are flexible."

Yrse nodded thanks; and Ervig led her and Franz off to see Wulf.

Wulf was pleased that two of the new ones at least had come to the conclusion that they could seek more in life, and told Ervig firmly that if his other work suffered he would have to give up on this fifth ZH.

"It ought to help, though, Sir, even if I only study it to learn more," said Ervig. "It's a life saving study."

Wulf could not dispute this.

"Very well," he said. "But out of the exam class if you start to drop on the others."

Franz was perhaps even more ambitious, adding a third ZH from the word go and planning on taking three subjects to ZP over a year, and on to ZH over the following year.

Wulf, however, recognised in the lad something akin to what he would describe as 'Snapeishness'; a love of learning and a determination to succeed. He reiterated a warning about negotiating dropping a subject if it were too much, and smiled as Yrse blushed and said she was only going to take extra ZPs and did not think she could manage them to ZH as well.

"It is a wise person who knows their limitations," said Wulf. "And you can always change your mind if you find things easy; or stay an extra year. We can be flexible."

Yrse struggled through thanks.

Wulf dismissed them to go in search of Kaffee und Kuchen, and sighed gently that Theodoric had not felt able to stretch himself further. The boy was not quite as much of a problem as Herbert Wieselking had been last year, but Wulf did not see him fitting in well. Still, the others would meet others of his ilk in the real world, and this batch were not so fragile as the excessively accelerated top class. Most of them were no longer fragile, especially Biirta, but last year, it would have been too much for them to cope with him. Wulf had little doubt that his original four would sit on Theodoric Kranz with great efficiency. As for the twins, they were relative intellectual lightweights – Wulf could not help comparing them to the Tugwood twins who had been the despair of Severus – but even so achieving any ZHs was an advance for goblins in Spain, and either one would make a reasonable teacher, unless Lola ended up playing professional Quidditch as she might well, judging by what he had seen out of the window.

They should take Quidditch to OWL – it not being a ZH yet – which would permit either to also pursue a career as an official.

It may be said that when Wulf later suggested this, Lena squealed with delight and Lola kissed him. Apparently they liked the idea.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"When do we get prefect badges?" asked Theodoric Kranz.

The others stared at him.

"When, or indeed if, we are adjudged suitable to be prefects," said Jurgen, "which won't be this year. There is a sufficiency of prefects in the Upper Sixth."

"But Friedrich Spinnertanz wrote that he had been made a prefect almost as soon as he arrived," said Theodoric. It was almost a whine.

"The heads made prefects in the Lower Sixth as there was no Upper Sixth," said Herman, "and in fact he was not going to make any up to prefect from those who had merely come in for a sixth form education, but the rest of the prefects put together a deputation because they thought Friedrich should join them. He's the only one of the new ones in that year, by the way, because he really is that good. The head told us that he's not certain as yet whether to choose prefects from both Sixths, and he will see how things go. That means if any of us does something spectacular to help the lower school, he'd probably promote anyone who did. And I think he's also debating whether to have a set number of prefects and so many drawn from one sixth and so many from the other, or whether to have a set number of prefects chosen as seem best, or whether to just choose as many as seem right. It's a new school still, and he wants to get it right."

"So when we go up we'll automatically be prefects then?" persisted Theodoric.

"No, you prune, only if we deserve it," said Ervig, irritably.

Theodoric rounded on him, and opened his mouth… and shut it hastily.

"Wise move," murmured Jurgen.

Theodoric was going to be a real bundle of laughs over the next two years; but so long as he kept any unacceptable views to himself, they could live with him.

oOo

"What leaves me almost laughing is that you goblin girls are more cultured than a lot of humans one might meet in Berlin," said Yrse.

"Madam Fernandez was keen for us to be cultured," said Lena.

"And the Frau Baronin is keen for all her girls to be as good as they can be in all matters," said Safraxa, "not that she isn't keen on it for the boys too, but as we are older, the Head takes most responsibility for the boys, and the Junior Head for the girls, because some people would giggle the other way round."

"It would be a little inappropriate," said Yrse. "I see fashion magazines, is that not a distraction to learning?"

"It's a permitted distraction so long as we don't let it run into vanity," said Safraxa. "We are encouraged to be aware of fashion and make the best of ourselves; and the Frau Baronin runs out of school sewing classes for those of us who wish to copy any models for ourselves, or just for plain robes. It's useful, and cheaper than buying clothes, and one may also then earn money doing alterations for people or sewing for them in the holidays. Not that I do, because for one thing I'm not very good at sewing, and for another there's nobody in Kobboldsheim with enough knuts to rub together to send sewing out. I could sew because it's necessary, but I don't have any eye for fashion."

"Nor do I," confessed Yrse. "It is good of the Frau Baronin."

"She is everything that is good," said Safraxa, simply. "You will like it here."

"Yes, I believe I shall," said Yrse. "And already I am starting to see you as Safraxa, not the goblin called Safraxa."

Safraxa beamed.

"Oh excellent!" she said. "It is hard, I know; living in a town all of goblins, I had tremendous trouble telling humans apart at first."

Yrse stared, then she started laughing.

"How extraordinary – and yet, of course, it's not!" she said. "The irony of humans all looking alike in the way we say all goblins look alike, how very lowering, a true barb into the heart of human arrogance!"

"All races are arrogant about their own essential superiority unless taught otherwise, or reared with a sufficient mix of people that the lie is made plain," said Safraxa.

"Heh, and that's a lesson to learn," said Yrse. "I would like to shake hands again, but properly."

Safraxa willingly held out her hand to shake; and Yrse managed it without a cringe. Her belief structures might have tumbled down, but she was embracing the rearrangement of her world view, and Safraxa respected her for it, and said so.

A budding friendship was on the cards.

oOoOo

The lower school of the Castle of the Eagles were looking forward to a whole new experience this year; the train journey. Those from outlying regions were to be brought to Berlin especially to experience the train journey; and the prefects would travel out to Berlin to keep an eye on the train and to sit on anything untoward. The Eagle Express would leave from the outlying Zoological Gardens stop, and most of the journey was through wizarding space. This was owing to Germany having come to railway building later than England, and therefore boasting less odd stretches of line, used or defunct, with which to blend the journey. German railways tended to be efficient and topologically sensible instead of rambling here and there like English lines. It made for faster journeys on muggle railways and took away all the fun. That at least was Jade's assessment; Jade belonged to a number of railway preservation societies in England and privately felt that such nostalgia was probably un-German on the grounds of not being New and Improved with unnecessary features because the engineers could make the unnecessary features. It was one of the less attractive traits that the German immigrants had taken with them to the New World in the days when there was a debate over whether English or German would be the official language in America. Jade was profoundly glad that the vote had gone the way it had, or culturally America might have come closer than the whisker that it did in supporting the Nazis, and the free world today might have been sieg heil-ing to the Grindelwald family, muggles and all. Which was why knowing Muggle history was important, even though most Wizarding families had little idea about this rather significant period in Muggle history on which Gellert Grindelwald rode some of his ambitions. Well, Harmony Weasley would be introducing the children of Durmstrang to some parallel Muggle history, so that would hopefully help. And of course in Hogwarts, Prince Peak and Schloss Adler such things formed part of the compulsory first year Muggle Studies.

Jade had every expectation that World War Three would not, in the meantime, break out on the train; the prefects were good. But she was still going to be restless until the locomotive had actually arrived and the carriages had been emptied of their children. Hopefully all in one piece and not too many jinxes to be undone.

OoO

The slim dark goblin girl with almond shaped eyes looked quite out of place with the flaxen-haired German goblins, and excited a few stares from them. But she was in the Schloss Adler uniform of Gentian blue and scarlet, and she looked about with interested eyes as Biirta and the other prefects shoo'd them all through the barrier and into the wizarding space station.

"So who else is up for Marauding?" said the dark-haired goblin.

"Me for one," said Briht gan Shenik, younger sister of Grelleg and Saxburra, luminaries of Marauding amongst the older ones.

"You're supposed to be invited," reproved Grelleg.

"But we have to have a quorum of people who want to Maraud first," said Briht, unabashed, though the dark little girl looked a little subdued to be reproved by a big boy. "I'm Briht, and you aren't from Germany, are you?"

"No, I'm from Assyria," said the girl "and my name is Mirami gan Ash, and I'm being sponsored by Amyetis Al-Sharu, who's studying higher magic at Prince Peak, and she would like me to have a chance to learn. I'm one of her maids," she added.

"I'm a maid too," squeaked an elf – Biirta blinked, she had no idea there was an elf on the muster, and the little creature had no uniform, though her teatowel was a neat gentian blue with red embroidery on it. "I'm maid to Fraulein Reinheit, and what's Marauding?"

Biirta looked around for Fraulein Reinheit. Her name on the list was Madelgarde and the rest of the children were staring at her rather accusingly.

"Madelgarde, your kit list does not include slaves, and as we don't approve of slavery at the Castle of the Eagles, this is a problem," said Biirta.

"Well I wanted her to learn too," said Madelgarde "and my parents said that they'd be laughed at by the teachers if they enrolled her."

"Actually, they'd have got a shed load of respect," said Biirta, dryly. "Give the girl a sock do, and we'll see about a proper uniform for her later, I presume your parents will pay for her?"

"Oh yes!" said Madelgarde, with self-assurance. "Here you are, Lelli, I am glad you can have a proper uniform."

Lelli grinned as she took the sock her little mistress proffered.

"Lelli is glad, too, she hates embroidery," she said, "and Lelli doesn't make as much of a mess of embroidery as Fraulein Madelgarde."

"I think you can just call me Madelgarde like we do in private," said Madelgarde. "I say, I wasn't sure I was going to like school but I reckon I am. I found out recently that some people treat their elves really badly, you know, and not like family members at all, isn't that awful?"

Grelleg's friend, Zaly Czerny, half elven, was splitting his sides laughing.

"It's not funny!" said Madelgarde. Zaly sobered up.

"No, kid, it isn't but I was enjoying what a lovely girl you are and what lovely people your folks must be; because my mother was very badly ill-treated as a slave, and so was I. I'm a free half-elf now, and I fight slavery, and that's partly what Marauding is about, as Lelli asked."

"Oh, then I reckon we're both up for it," said Madelgarde. "Who runs it?"

"Each group runs themselves, but we usually have a leader of sorts, I think" said Briht.

"And I want to Maraud too!" said Alith gan Sidor, sister of Ulvik's friend Lurtz.

"And please may I? My brother isn't one but he's friends with several," said another dark haired goblin child with French looks. "I'm Nîn gan Gautic."

"It will mean getting into trouble, Nîn," warned Didi.

"Good," said Nîn. "I want to have fun as well as learn, and you said the Marauders are the top scholars."

"Yes, but they have to do uncomfortable things like fight dark wizards and find secret passages," said Didi, earnestly, adamant that he must warn his little sister of such things.

"Brilliant!" said Nîn. Didi gave up.

"Nice way to check if they're serious, Didi, man," said Ulvik. "All girls? Well well, in the first, the girls appear to have taken the lead."

One of the other new girls, a human, turned to Madelgarde.

"You need not associate with goblins you know; if you wish I will lay the cards and determine whether or not these Marauders will be bad news for you. I have wizarding blood on my father's side for eight generations."

"If you give a hoot, I'm pure blood back to at least the Goths," said Madelgarde. "And they look jollier than you, though I like too the idea that Marauders are the top scholars. And I do not think that card reading is very reliable without a great deal of training."

"I have had visions too," said the girl.

Biirta judged it was time to step in.

"Ah yes, Linda Fledermaus, I have a note about your affliction," she said,

"What do you mean? I am not afflicted, how dare you say so? I shall report you to whoever is in charge here!" said Linda.

Biirta laughed.

"That'll be me, then, as I'm the Head Girl. And we count being a seer as an affliction to be sympathised with, and to be given training to control as much as possible."

"Too right," said Berthold Falke, with feeling. "I have prophetic dreams and it's a real pain in the neck, as is having sudden visions and blurting out things that embarrass people," he glanced apologetically at Magda. "Don't worry, Linda, our Divination teacher is the WORKS, he comes from a family of Diviners in England and he knows how to help channel it. I've managed to pick myself about to blurt things out several times over the holidays and think before I speak."

"That's a first for any little boy," said Magda, smiling to show she was joking. Berthold grinned.

"Well, I need to tell the heads about a dream I keep having involving people who tie knots in things to make magic."

"Russian knot magic!" said Biirta. "Well, it's no big surprise, Berthold, but I hope you'll be able to provide more clues than the various hunches and wild stuff I've been hearing so far."

"Well I know they have a few more than competent seers in Prince Peak and it was them who were the target," said Berthold with more emphasis than grammar.

"Oh, Professor Snape will have it in hand," said Biirta, pleased that she remembered not to call Lucius' best friend 'Severus' in front of the little ones.

As Linda was hoping to make something of a star of herself for having visions, having it treated as an affliction and having this horrid boy monopolise the conversation sent her into a sulk.

Nobody noticed.

About a fifth of the new intake comprised younger siblings of those already in the school, and they had some idea of what to expect. The rest were, many of them, displaying signs of nervousness through being quiet or through brashness; though Biirta thought that Mirami gan Ash, Madelgarde Reinheit and Lelli, presumably to be known as Zu Reinheit, were not so much brash through nervousness as just thoroughly excited and enthusiastic. If Linda Fledermaus was a show off to cover nervousness, that was forgivable, but Biirta had not liked the patronising way the girl had spoken to Madelgarde nor the way she sneered.

As Madelgarde was being greeted cheerfully by Kornelia Kirsch, presumably she belonged to a pure blood family known to the Kirsch family, who had recommended the school. And Madelgarde – what a name! – would never have been permitted to be so familiar to her elf at Durmstrang, so it really was as well that her parents had decided to send her to the Schloss Adler! Biirta knew something of Amyetis Al-Sharu too, Mirami's sponsor; she was blooded, and was a protégé of Darryl Zabini. Presumably Amyetis did not want to send her protégé to Prince Peak while she was herself studying there, for fear of overshadowing the child. Biirta smiled to herself. Overshadowing the enthusiastic little girl would not have been easy! But she herself knew what it was like having a younger sibling who tried to depend on her, and maybe Amyetis had read this one wrongly.

Or the child had not passed the entrance exam to Prince Peak, which was also possible. However, she seemed confiding enough to have mentioned that, so… well, time enough to find out.

The older children were busy greeting friends cheerfully and loudly, and sorting themselves out into compartments with their cronies, which in the case of the extensive Valentine Marauders meant that to get into one compartment the floor had to be occupied too, and everyone had to be very friendly. As they were all blooded nobody minded this, though Yrmiot decided it might be more comfortable to climb into the luggage rack.

Wilga Gan Heran, rather predictably, looked in to see if 'those Marauders' were already up to mischief, and equally predictably pointed at Yrmiot and bleated,

"Ummm! I'll tell!"

Biirta gave the train ten minutes to get under way before she went to unjinx Wilga from an unpleasant combination of several corridor curses, and as Wilga was swearing when the sound of farting was removed from her voice, Biirta decided that the only cure for that was to drop a saponification spell on so dirty a mouth. Wilga spluttered.

"That'll teach you to swear at a prefect," said Biirta, with some satisfaction. "Especially as I am extricating you from the consequences of your own folly."

"Those wretched Marauders are already misbehaving!" howled Wilga, with added bubble.

"Well, if you want to make it your business to be busy about the affairs of other kids, I'm afraid you must accept the consequences," said Biirta. "Nobody likes a sneak! Perhaps if you had pointed out the reasons why it's not desirable to sit in luggage racks they might have listened. You do know the reasons, don't you?"

Wilga goggled.

"Because it's against the rules," she said.

Biirta counted to ten. Because Wilga was thick-skinned, she did it aloud.

"Most things that are against the rules are against the rules for a good reason, you silly child," said Biirta. "Reasons like safety. Which I am now going to explain to them, and I don't want you going anywhere near the Marauders for the rest of the trip."

"They're a bad influence," said Wilga. "They've got some of the little ones wanting to be Marauders."

"Yes, an excellent thing so soon," said Biirta. "You are quite one of the most spiteful children I've ever had the displeasure to meet, Wilga, I wish you'd learn to get over yourself."

With that, Biirta entered the compartment and regarded Yrmiot.

"Yrmiot, tell me why that perch is not desirable if you please," she said.

"I'm not going to fall out, Biirta, even if we stop suddenly, I tied myself in with my scarf," said Yrmiot.

"Hmm, well you think of some things then," said Biirta. "But it's not that good a safety measure and you might be hurled to hit your head. And though you're not exactly fat," at which there were giggles as Yrmiot was small and slight, "if we had one rule for one and another for another, why then, anyone could climb up there, and if it was Gunnar, who's pushing hard to make a hundred kilos of solid muscle, it might come down. And not nice for anyone on whom it landed, to say nothing of the cost of replacing it. So be a good kid and come down."

"You're so frightfully reasonable, Biirta," Yrmiot complained.

"It's my job as Head Girl," said Biirta.

Which as the Valentine Marauders gloomily agreed when she was gone could not be disputed.

oOoOo

When Biirta went to see how the new ones were settling in, she discovered that Lelli had been outfitted to some degree with items of clothing donated by all the little girls who aspired to Maraud.

"And that's what Marauding is about too," said Biirta.

"Please, how much do you know about Marauding?" asked Nîn.

"Well, as I'm an honourary Marauder, having joined too late to have fun as one in the lower school, because I was already fifteen and quite geriatric, I know quite a lot," said Biirta.

The looks of the children went from interested to worshipful and Biirta hid a sigh. Well, she would just have to live up to it.

oOoOo

In England, the train journey to Hogwarts was a well established matter, and Sextus joined Kevin Slugworthy as whipper in.

"Oh good, you're going to take over, are you?" said Kevin. "I could do with that for my peace of mind. I haven't ever lost anyone but at times it's been a damned close run thing."

Sextus laughed.

"Well at least we don't have to contend with Death Eaters, Dementors and evil Men from the Ministry as I believe our revered headmaster had to do when he was train prefect," he said.

"And Gorbrin had a few as well," said Kevin. "When that awful Auror had his claws into a couple of kids. Heh, life happens and you see it on the train."

"And at least this year's must-have toy doesn't fly," said Sextus, regarding the honking daffodil saxophones with some disapprobation. They were deliberately discordant, and so far only Lilith had succeeded in getting anything like a tune out of one. And that had been 'My Old Man's a Desplincher' in a minor key.

Kevin moved away slightly to direct the harried man with two small boys to the end platform for the Devon express; the train prefects were by now adept at recognising the uniform of St Jodoc's, as Kevin told Sextus.

"We got a few Parselmouths from them, though," said Sextus.

"Yes, but we don't want random muggles," said Kevin. "The ones we want to keep ask questions about goblins."

"Point," conceded Sextus.

The whole of those on the list being duly decanted onto the train, with none missing and none extra – always a bonus, as Kevin said – both Kevin and Sextus boarded the train.

"I ought to go and vote," said Sextus.

"Yes, you ought," said Kevin. "Ta for that. If you want to join me after the voting, I'll do a patrol and undo anyone who needs undoing. We haven't any real bullies right now, though, so it's a fairly easy job, just normal corridor curses that the little wretches can cast but can't undo."

Sextus laughed.

"Well decursing is something I am pretty good at," he said. "I've had to escape from Lilith's creativity."

"No further qualification is required for the job of senior cursebreaker," laughed Kevin.

None of the prefects were inclined to be foolishly partisan with regards to voting, though the older Hufflepuff contingent anxiously demanded a debate, to be sure nobody thought Kevin got in under false pretences and railroading by Marauders. Lilith listed all the arguments for and against each house head, smiled brightly around and said,

"Debate over then? In favour of Kev? Good, carried," and the likes of Heloise Pomfrey and Arbuthnot Cramp subsided, railroaded by one Marauder, and as Sextus muttered to Jingjie, piqued, repiqued and capotted, which would mean nothing to anyone not a Ravenclaw, Malfoy or Snape who played such outmoded card games. The tendency of Wizarding cards to argue with the players added a piquancy to subtle games of the past.

oOoOo

The train journey was remarkably quiet, if honking daffodil saxophones could be described as quiet, and the only real noise and light came from Sebastian and Balduk and their latest range of fireworks. Being in the Third now, their fireworks were becoming relatively sophisticated, though relatively was, said Sextus snidely, the real word of the moment. The current offerings spelled out the small boys' concept of rude words in sparks and the bang had the word in it. It was indicative of the peaceful nature of the homelife of both that the worst word they could think of was 'arse'.

Both boys sported the remains of a few jinxes – some of their fellows had not appreciated being startled by fireworks proclaiming them to be a jerk – but as neither seemed to mind wearing dancing spider legs or exploding pustules, Sextus and Kevin went quietly away and left them to their own age group of Blooded to sort out before any grown up saw them. Sextus did check on one of that class, which was Amanda Gardiner, and asked her,

"Those two nuisances don't bother you, do they?"

"No, they're mildly entertaining but I suspect by the end of term it will be boring," said Amanda, candidly. "But by then I shall know the pustule popping maggot curse too. I have to say, though, it's another good reason to be working to go up a grade, what you people call getting a remove."

"Crumbs yes," agreed Sextus with feeling. "I like fireworks, but…"

"Exactly," agreed Amanda.

oOoOo

Sextus regained his own set's compartment to find them much impressed by Adam, who had been enduring an interrogation from Walter Trimmer over why he was starting late, and was it true he was really a squib. And as Walter had not taken any hints that his impertinent questions were not about to be answered, Adam had lost his temper at last and had managed to recall several jinxes he had seen cast at Malfoy Manor and added a twist or two of his own, as a result of which Walter was hovering in the passageway with his hair gyrating and making helicopter noises from his rear.

"Impressive," said Sextus.

"I watch and learn," said Adam.

"Rather well by the look of it," said Sextus. "I say, you oiks, we really do need to think about stealing him a little bit."

"Oy, that's my speech idiom," said Lilith.

"Yes. I stole it," said Sextus. "It has to beat speaking in Iambic Hexameter."

"It does," said Lilith. "And I'm inclined to agree."

"But do I?" asked Adam.

"Hold up your hand and say 'I solemnly swear I am up to no good,'" said Lilith.

Adam glanced at Sextus, who nodded.

Shortly thereafter Adam was being regaled with the fuller history of Marauding, and having had his palm slit was feeling as weak as a kitten and very glad of goodies from Ethel Portree's trolley.

"This is like family," he said.

"This is your other family," said Venus, "because you felt right. Gareth Rookwood feels nearly right but you just fit in."

"And it'll help you understand things so you pick up quicker," said Gennar. "And no, it's not cheating, just opening more of yourself."

"I know people like Mr Malfoy wouldn't sanction anything that was cheating," said Adam. Gennar chuckled.

"Oh Dad knows when is the moment to cheat constructively and when is not," he said. "And now you don't have to worry about any silly muggle law, because we can't ever lose you, and as we have elves in the mix, blood of your blood means they can find your siblings or mum whatever, even if they don't sign up for Marauding."

"How did you know I was worried?" asked Adam.

"Simple," said Kazrael. "You have 'profoundly good at taking care of people' written all over you; just like Gorbrin. Now shut up and pass me another jellied dementor, I love blackcurrant."

oOoOo

The train arrived without further incident, and Kevin and Sextus returned Wilfrid to the ground without hairy rotors and with only occasional internal helicopter noises.

Ace and the first year Marauders were quite impressed when Adam, grinning like a mad thing, told his siblings that he was a Marauder now.

"My year doesn't Maraud, but they do support," said Amanda. Andy eyed his brother and wondered whether to be envious, or glad it wasn't him.

The first year would-be Marauders had suffered very few of the slings and arrows of outrageous train journeys, as there were a sufficiency of them well enough versed in jinxes to avoid anyone trying to push them around; they had spent the train journey playing 'spot the Harry' in which they had to guess which other new kids had been named after Harry Potter, scoring ten if they were right, five if any other famous friend of Harry's was in the name and losing ten if they were wrong. They had discovered a dozen Harrys and a Ron-Harry, and had jinxed Habbuk Kordach fairly successfully for trying to open a book on the subject. As Habbuk was a Marauder, he was more impressed than otherwise.

oOoOo

The young Gardiners knew more or less what to expect in respect of the journey across the lake, though Andy murmured that nodal shift would have been quicker. He was poked for his pains by Lucasta who informed him sternly that it wasn't something most weevils had even heard of, and if he could do it, she couldn't yet so stop being a smart arse.

This, coming from Lucasta, left most of the other Malfoy hangers-on speechless.

"Pots," murmured Iris, "and cauldrons."

"Nah then, nah then, no need for quarrelling," said Hagrid. "And where's young Harry?"

"Please, sir, that's several of us!" piped up a small blonde Harry.

Hagrid looked nonplussed.

"Oh dear," he said. "What a coincidence! I'm looking for Harry Dursley, Harry Potter's cousin, fancy there being other Harrys here too!"

"Is he really that dim?" muttered Arzad to Iris.

"It's more a childlike unworldliness," Iris explained. "He can see the point of naming people after relatives, but he doesn't understand the almost muggle-like thinking in assigning a name of someone famous as though that might magically confer the attributes of the said famous person on the unfortunate offspring thus inflicted with the name. Muggles do it a lot," she added.

As Iris had spoken loud enough for most of the new weevils to hear, she received several flat, unfriendly stares.

"Well scored," said Ivo. "Couldn't have done it better myself."

"Well she is a Snape," said Harry. "I'm Harry Dursley, Hagrid; didn't you recognise me?"

"Well not right off," said Hagrid. "Not milling about with the others. How'ya doin' Harry mate?"

"Oh I aspire to Maraud," said Harry. "I'll bring my friends down for tea in your cottage if I may some day?"

"I'd love it," said Hagrid, sincerely. "Now you'd better all move along into the boats!"

oOo

The castle was an awe-inspiring sight all lit up, and it was also pretty awe-inspiring to be ushered in where all the other children were waiting to see the new ones hatted. The hat sang a song about co-operation and interhouse solidarity in the face of the ever present danger of blood snobbery. Lilith remarked to Sextus,

"Have you noticed, Sec, since Fido took over, the hat keeps better tune and has less worserer doggerel?"

"Less worserer? What are you on, Halfpint?" said Sextus, rudely.

"Lucius' battered cauliflowers; they give me verbal flatulence," said Lilith, which being something of a non-sequitor, Sextus gave up. She was right though. Presumably the hat suited its rhymes to the personality of the headmaster. And Dumbledore had been fun, kindly, and as dangerous as a sack full of pit-vipers hidden in his genial idiocies, but Sextus had to admit he preferred a more serious approach from a headmaster. And he certainly approved of David's introduction of a school song which had a set tune. Dumbledore had been tone deaf, which had, thought Sextus suddenly, limited the range of his magical achievements. Arithmancy being the key to all magic, and music being a means to directly tap arithmancy.

Meanwhile the hat had finished and those at the lower end of the alphabet were to be first under the hat. This year B was the first letter, and twins Minerva and Venus Beamish were first to be assigned, straight into Slytherin without a pause. Their older siblings, Eugenia and Oswald cheered them enthusiastically. The Beamishes leaned more to the SAS than Marauding, being, house notwithstanding, a family who traditionally supported goblin rights.

Of the new Marauders, Sol went first, under de Malfoy, and was also in Slytherin; and of that set, the Gardiners were up next, in age order.

Adam went straight into Hufflepuff, which surprised nobody who knew his loyal spirit, where he was cheered, a little doubtfully by those who wondered if a boy coming so late would damage the house record, and Jayashree gave a loud and happy purr, which unsettled those who were not aware that she was a rakshasa.

Amanda was rapidly hatted into Slytherin, and went to take her place looking very pleased. She was welcomed by Salazar, Sevvy, Tarquin, Bryony and Naomi, and therefore by the rest, and there was much rubber-necking from other tables to see who had received such a warm welcome from some of what came as close as the Wizarding World had to royalty.

Andy went laconically into Ravenclaw, where Jun Chang had preceded him; and Ace nervously sat on the stool and put on the hat.

"Oh unquestionably Gryffindor," said the hat.

Ace stood up, grinning, and headed for the Gryffindor table as her sweater took on the house colours.

Amanda gave a whoop.

"We've taken all four houses, GO GARDINERS!" she yelled.

David blinked.

"A feat that even the Malfoys have not yet managed," he murmured.

It was no big surprise that Harry, Bakelinn and Jasper were also in Gryffindor, Iris and Ivo in Slytherin, as was Lucasta, and Arzad and Tagett were in Ravenclaw. Ravenclaw was more or less resigned to non human members now, since the Malfoy-Tobaks in the person of Zelinn had so famously 'infiltrated Ravenclaw' along with one of the gan Nork twins, and now included one of the half-elves of Roger Blakes sibling set, a hag and a part fey, so two more goblins were applauded as enthusiastically as anyone else. David fervently hoped that with Xanthia Fawcett's influence gone, Ravenclaw might be ready to get over itself.

"I have the honour," said David, "To announce a head boy who was elected unanimously, which I believe is a first, even when Draco was in the running. The new head boy is Kevin Slugworthy."

"Probably because the prefects even in Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff aren't halfwits, and he is a Huffer anyway so no mistaken ideas of loyalty," said Sextus snidely. He let David hear him with a highly selective _sonorous_ spell, but kept the comment _sotto voce_.

David pretended not to hear; dignity required it. Sextus was, however, probably correct.

Kevin went to collect his badge, grinning cheerfully.

"One more announcement," said David, "As you all doubtless know, it's Triwizard year again. This will disrupt Quidditch and Quiddpolo I'm afraid, but I have no objection if the heads of games want to arrange some informal matches drawn from those of the lower school who should not be competing and anyone in the upper school who has no intention of competing or supporting; I'm well aware there are plenty of people more interested in Quidditch than in the Triwizard. To be honest, in my young day, I should have been one of them, only I was required by Madam Spikenard to enter the Triwizard. She'd had signs… The rest, as they say, is ancient history. The competition this year will be at Beauxbatons, and disruption to classes will be kept at a minimum. I ask you all in the nicest possible way not to jinx or disrupt the experts who will be bringing in an experimental big screen for you to watch our champion on Wizarding Wireless Vision on pain of them taking it away again and everyone else missing out if a few are disobedient. You have been warned."

As this was a more dire threat than any punishment, any of the more lawless element who might have considered visiting technicians as fair game subsided before any felonious little plans might be matured.

And then the feast was brought in and a new year was well and truly under way.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"I say, Radagas, I am sorry you can't come to Durmstrang with us," said Zoltan Nagy, "but I bet you have a good time and manage to Maraud at Prince Peak." Radagas was staying for a few days, as was Sigismund, with the Von Freyers, who were Zoltan's step grandparents.

Radagas chuckled.

"The parents of the nice upper class German Sphere children would die of shock if a goblin went to Durmstrang," he said. "Alrik and Fyra reckon it'll all be good though."

"And they have a pretty good group," said Zoltan, who knew his Prince Peak counterparts fairly well, courtesy of Eduard Von Frettchen's parties. "I do wonder if Zhenga will have a go at getting her name in the Goblet of Fire."

"I think she's too tied up worrying about the Order of the Dragon and their various traitors, from what I heard," shrugged Radagas. "I say, it is nice to be able to be going to school knowing all that's going on behind the scenes, not like some poor oik who hasn't a clue and thinks that all schools do is teach people."

"Well, it took Harry Potter to get that tradition changed, I think," chuckled Zoltan, "But I must say I hope they don't deal with all the supremacists and things before I'm in the sixth and get to do field trips to kill liches and things."

"And you have oodles of years start on me," said Radagas, who appreciated Zoltan's situation of being a year above his chronological age, since he was himself starting school a year early.

"Yes, but you'll be… well, no, you won't be in age for the next Triwizard but I'm sure you'll manage to sneak into it," said Zoltan.

"It's got to be done," said Radagas, seriously.

Zoltan's father, Attila, overhearing this conversation, smiled to himself. Before Jade Snape had so radically rearranged the very thinking at Durmstrang, the idea of sneaking into the Triwizard underage would never have occurred to any of them, and he knew, because Headmistress Agata Bacso had told him, that her decision to involve the Musical Marauders in designing the third task had been a cynical exercise in preventing them from finding a way to slip any of their names into the Goblet of Fire at Beauxbatons and give the Wizarding World any more conniptions than it was likely to have when Lilith Snape turned up as an underage and extra contender. Attila had no doubt the little girl could manage it; she had waxed Arithmantic on the subject to both his sons and their set.

Another guest, indeed one who lived in the holidays with Attila and Caecilia, was Vighard Sternschuppe, now he was part of the Blood Group, and had, with help, managed to overcome his violent temper. He did intend to try for the Triwizard, although he had every expectation that one of the Eulenspiegel twins would be the Durmstrang champion. Part of the reason for the gathering of other children had been to take a selection to Durmstrang all in one go, because it made the logistics easier, and the only other young Hungarian was Sigismund's adoptive sister – he was technically a cousin – Klarisza, who was already firmly admiring of Vighard, and established as his fag for the year. Bronislava Frolika, who lived with her brother, and Beremud Gerecht were happy enough to meet with their fellow Marauders as their friends in NeuBrandenburg had already departed for Schloss Adler. Also Corneliu Stanescu, Beryx Szabo and Lindhard Natterzahn had elected to spend a few days with their favourite teachers before heading for the Lodge which served the same purpose as the Hogwarts Express, in giving the children time to let off steam, practise new jinxes and establish relations with others, if they happened to be new.

The only other new one for whom the Musical Marauders were more or less looking out would be Ivaylo Ivanov, younger brother of Ilarion, now in the second, and a relative of the former Bulgarian team chaser, Ivanova. Ilarion and his friends formed a layer of Marauders, but were only five in number, and could conveniently, Sigismund had suggested, absorb Ivaylo and Klarisza, as their group had absorbed Zoltan, the only Marauder type in his year.

"It's one of the advantages Prince Peak has on us," said Zoltan, gloomily. "They only take the brightest and the best, so they are bound to have more Marauders."

"It's more about the attitudes and traditions," Sigusmund said. "Because Durmstrang will take a few generations to recover from being so awful as it was."

"And at least it has Marauders to make sure it happens," said Zoltan. In some ways he envied Radagas, going to Prince Peak; but both he and Sigismund had turned down the option to transfer, on the grounds that they did not want to leave their friends, and because they could do a lot to help Durmstrang. After all, they might all do a year post graduate study at Prince Peak after leaving school, and take advantage of its musical tradition. He grinned. Severus would have something distinctly waspish to say about the descent of Marauders _en masse_.

Meanwhile he bid Radagas the best of luck, and helped him pack for his journey to Zurich, whence the Prince Peak train left.

oOoOo

Clovis Gierek took his adopted son to Zurich, where the pupils for Prince Peak met on a muggle train station before going through a wall into wizarding space to board their train. They also took Otylia Winkela and Boleslav Winkel, now in the second, and established Marauders. Clovis had recommended Prince Peak to their parents, who were neighbours of his own parents, and concerned about the ideals of Durmstrang.

Rainer Von Luytens, whose blood sang with Radagas' own blood, was already there, standing on one leg and swaying precariously whilst talking to a good-looking and very Germanic lad.

"Hello Radagas, this is Falk, Falk, this is Radagas, I told you about him," said Rainer. "Falk's coming to Prince Peak so he can have his pony because he's horsy like me."

"Well, it takes all sorts," said Radagas. "So long as you don't do Arithmancy by stamping your hooves."

Falk grinned.

"Arithmancy is not my strong point, but I must concentrate on it as it is the basis of all higher magic," he said seriously.

"Same here," said Radagas. "However, I can manage enough art that Professor Snape thought it worth cultivating, and you can take shortcuts with art and music."

Falk brightened.

"Can you? I did not know. I, too, have tested worth being given art lessons, which is good, because apart from History I'm not very academic."

"Well are you going to Maraud?" asked Radagas.

"Of course we are!" said Falk and Rainer with one voice.

"My brother was one of the first Marauders at Durmstrang," said Falk. "I might have thought it my duty to go there, but there are lots of Marauders there now, and I want to ride."

"We've got more, one of them a resident of the Prinzhorn who want to maraud too," said Rainer. "Zenz has several Marauding siblings, and you know Vetrik gan Torik, I think, Alrik's brother."

"I've met him but only briefly," said Radagas. "He's quite enthusiastic."

Rainer laughed.

"That's Vetrik," he said. "The other resident is Ehki, an elf, but he's a bit quiet; I'm not sure at all that he'd Maraud, Grandfather says there's a kid from Luxemburg on a Quidditch scholarship, and an American boy and some girls but I don't know any of them."

"Will you kids shoo inside the barrier and stop talking Marauder business in front of muggles?" said the slim, neat girl wearing a Head Girl badge.

"Sorry, Flo," said Rainer. "Come on, you oiks!" By now he did not even sound self-conscious about being firmly English in idiom.

Flo smiled to herself. She would hide firmly that she had something of a soft spot for one of the adopted children of Jade Von Luytens, Snape as was, who had enabled Flo and her brother Fred to settle down at school and make real friends. Flo adored Jade from the bottom of her loyal heart, and hoped to live up to her hero, even though she doubted that she would emulate Jade in being a Triwizard winner as well as head girl. Flo knew well enough that she would never be able to put her heart into a silly competition, when there were plenty of others to show up any supremacists.

Thinking of defeating the supremacists, Flo waved to the Villeneuve twins as they arrived, giggling in an unseemly manner for young people now entering the lower sixth and wearing the plain flame tie reserved for prefects.

"What's up with you two, Emil made a cheering potion and overdid it?" asked Flo.

"Oh, we've been suckering Achille, can't wait to share it with all and sundry!" said Cecilia.

"I'm afraid you will have to wait," said Flo. "Do you want to have a prefects meeting on the train or have the combined sixth and Severus in on what you've been up to, after supper?"

"We can wait for supper, we've been sitting on our giggles for days," said Emil. "And I guess it is a matter for the combined sixth, because the little tick is planning on taking over the Triwizard, well getting his tool to do it."

"And he really IS a tool, and in the sense English muggles use the word," giggled Cecilia.

"Go away and stop dropping hints; it'll wait," said Flo. "Ghastly pair that you are."

Flo firmly put all this from her mind in order to welcome a small girl with red hair.

"I have a Hubble-Weasley on my list, as well as Alison Lowther, who is a Weasley, which are you?" asked Flo kindly.

"Oh, I'm Mildred Hubble-Weasley, and I'm looking forward to meeting my cousin, I've heard of her and how eclectricity blocked the family from magic, how AWFUL!" said Mildred, all in one breath.

"Breathe occasionally, kiddy," said Flo, "though if you can manage that much without training you should be passable at Chanting. And here is Alison, whom I can identify by her brothers, don't either of you DARE do anything inappropriate."

Fred and Peter Lowther grinned identical grins.

"No, oh mighty head girl," said Peter.

"Well, Alison, relative peace and quiet at school for you without those nutters around," said Flo, proffering her cheek for a friendly kiss from each of the original Muggle Marauders. Alison regarded this thoughtfully.

"You don't really dislike them," she said.

"No, but don't tell them that," said Flo. Alison digested that then beamed at her.

"Hello Alison, I'm your cousin Mildred," said Mildred, "And my branch hasn't had a whole lot to do with the other Weasleys OR the other Hubbles, can we be friends?"

Alison regarded her.

"We CAN, but wouldn't it be a good idea to get to know each other first rather than rushing into it? I know already Adolfa Nachtigall, who is also starting, because my brothers made sure I met her."

"Then there's only one more girl you need to meet, who I believe is here now, Mercedes Lebaton, whose sister and brother are with her," said Flo. "Adolfa is on the train; I forbade her to come out and meet you in case she accidentally broke something, like Zurich."

"Crumbs, she sounds like my Hubble cousins," said Mildred.

"Well I am heartened that your trunk doesn't look as though it has had an earthquake, unlike young Grace's," said Flo, seeing Rose and Grace Hubble. At least Hanna-Leena Tommila always packed for her friend Rose, or neither trunk would survive the journey intact! "Hello Solange and Claude, Mercedes, meet two of your class mates, I fear you girls are outnumbered two to one by boys, Grace, get that trunk through the barrier and get Hanna-Leena to sort it out for you, you can meet your cousin Mildred when you and your kit are safely stowed."

That was all but two of the new first years, including the most disorganised of them, and Grace might go and join the rest of her Marauding group already assembled. And this looked like the American boy, Ambrose Daggerton with his genial parents, his mother trying hard not to cry at her baby going to school so far away.

Ambrose grinned, trying not to look scared.

"Am I supposed to say 'Guten tag?' he asked.

"Only on German speaking days, and day one is always a free-for-all language-wise," said Flo. "We speak French on two days and German on two days and English the rest of the time; it increases the language skills no end. Now let me find you a couple of boys who know the ropes and leave you deciding whether your desire to fight for the rights of others leads you to Maraud."

Flo marched Ambrose firmly onto the train and deposited him on Rainer, Radagas, Falk and Vetrik.

"Oh yes, you know Sevnev," said Rainer, airily, "from the Gymkhana last year at Hellibore's. Falk and I are both horsy, and we heard you were all right. Do you maraud?"

Once Marauding had been explained, Ambrose agreed that he most certainly DID Maraud, and was it only for boys.

"Not hardly," said Rainer, "only we were eavesdropping on the girls and none of them seemed quite….."

"….Quite lawless enough," said Radagas, who knew that he meant their blood did not whisper to Rainer any more than to him, in the same way as he was able to tell who would Maraud at Durmstrang.

"Gee!" said Ambrose. "I guess my parents wouldn't want me to break rules for the sake of it, but they wouldn't want me to hold back whatever the rules if it meant betraying my principles."

"He'll do," said Radagas. Rainer, who had been about to say it, looked briefly outraged, then laughed.

"You are so egal- egal – equal to each other," said Ambrose, admiringly.

"No point being otherwise without marking yourself as ridiculous, is there?" said Falk, laconically.

"We all think much alike, we only look different," said Vetrik.

"Vetrik and me belong to families who have shown Durmstrangers that Goblins can be equal," said Zenz Breuer.

"No elves in this group?" asked Ambrose.

"Ehki is in our year but he chooses not to Maraud," said Rainer. "It's up to him; he's one of life's gentle people. We don't know yet about the last boy, he hasn't arrived, oh yes he has," as Flo brought in another goblin boy.

"Jurgo gan Fered, sponsored by the Luxembourg team the Bigonville Bombers," said Flo.

"Please, Fraulein Flo says you lot fight for rights for people and I want to, too," said Jurgo. Rainer and Radagas exchanged brief looks, acknowledging the sensing of who was right; and Radagas held out his hand and said,

"Put it there, Jurgo, man, and welcome to the would-be Marauders of this year."

"That means Ehki is the only boy not Marauding," said Zenz.

"He'll support, though," said Rainer. "He's a Von Strang elf and just because he doesn't want to be actively involved doesn't mean he won't be a staunch supporter. And we can maybe give him time and he might join later."

"Yes, in Hiob's group, Vivienne D'aubert took her time to make up her mind," said Zenz. "And I think he will. Actually, I'm going to ask him if he's changed his mind; see you in a minute," and he left the compartment where Marauding was going on, to return very shortly with the delicate-featured elf boy, who had accepted the taller natural form from Erich Snape Von Strang's chanting.

"I did not think I wanted to Maraud, but I think I was wrong," said Ehki. "It's not that I don't want to be left out, but that it is right for elveses to be a part of it from time to time to help out others."

"Well said, Ehki," said Radagas. "My adoptive mother is an elf, my adoptive father is human, and I think I might have another sibling soon; my little brother Clovis, or Vissy as he's called at the moment, is a full elf but my dad did a ritual to make him blood of his blood too, so he will grow up like a half-elf. And my friend Zaly is half elf in a bad way, and his mum died, but he's adopted too and he's a Marauder, and so by the way is my dad, he's one of the people who was impressed by Vetrik's and Zenz's families."

"Boy, how some of them would stare in the States!" said Ambrose. "I sure like seeing people walk tall as people."

"I vote we call ourselves the Constitutional Marauders and see if we can't get changes to the American Department of Magic's Constitution," said Rainer, having a mother who was a bit more _au fait_ with international politics than most.

This was carried.

oOoOo

Flo meanwhile ran into Pru Buffer, who was pirouetting down the corridor.

"Pru! I mean, Professor Buffer!" said Flo.

Pru dissolved into giggles.

"Oh Flo! How I love the sound of that! Professor Buffer! And the older ones who know me as Pru won't be likely to be my pupils except in a kaffee und kuchen sort of lesson if they want any supplemental Astronomy, because I'm only starting it with the little ones to ease me in, and if anyone talks really fast to take it as an elective."

"That'll make life easier," agreed Flo. "I am glad you got your grades!"

"And HOW!" said Pru. "I managed 'O' in Potions and Divination, and 'E' in Astronomy and Care of Beasts, so as I'm not very busy, I volunteered to take remedial kids for Professors – for Severus and Dimsie, and help, er, Carmenta with the big ritual readings to see how the Russians plan to louse up the Triwizard. The Golden Sun is going to have a go, but as I read it a protégé of Mimi Snape's boyfriend – no, sorry, husband – is going to walk all over him."

"You diviners do live exciting lives," said Flo.

Pru shrugged.

"A lot of it is in the interpretation. Miss Gimlet, I mean Carmenta, is so frightfully practical and down to earth, it's impossible to get too silly about what cards fall or whatever. And once you have a good idea what's going to happen you can plan for it, which to my mind stops life getting TOO exciting when you least want it."

"Fair point," said Flo. "Did you tell Severus about what you saw?"

"I sent him an owl," said Pru, "which he acknowledged with thanks. He's going to get Law Visick and Eva Schiff and Carmenta and me together to do a Div-in as you might say. Which will probably get most out of Law, but Carmenta and I have the knowledge to prod him in the right direction without hurting him."

Flo nodded.

"Again, it's co-operation and the willingness to listen to even quite little kids which will be our edge," she said. "The opposition tend to place a lot of store in individual ability, and rivalry, so the idea of co-operating is alien to many. As I understand it from what Zhenga and co were burbling about, the Order of the Dragon is having a number of expulsions, and it's the ones who want to seek personal glory who are the ones who are doing the dark magic crap."

"Well, it's a short cut, and people who want short cuts take to dark magic like ducks to water," said Pru. "Oh, I have to tell you this! You know my rotten great aunt said she'd leave me all her loot if I managed even one NEWT? Well she was so overcome that I'd outdone her by so much she actually asked if I'd sold my soul to Voldemort or something! I told her I'd only leased my soul to Severus Snape as he required me to teach, and I swear she almost had an apoplectic fit, mummy was terrified. The silly old bat doesn't scare me, though; I have four NEWTs not two, and at higher grades. And then the silly moo asked me why I would waste such talent teaching when I might apply to be an Unspeakable in the Ministry."

"Ouch, I bet she didn't like the answer," said Flo.

"She didn't," said Pru. "I told her that several of our teachers had worked at the Ministry for a while, and one of them was an Unspeakable, and they left readily for higher things like teaching as there is no more challenging nor noble profession, especially when disillusioned with all the hot air from a bunch of inadequates who can't do anything but ministrate."

"Is there such a word?" asked Flo.

"There is now," said Pru.

oOoOo

Pru was invited to join those who were to hear the account of the Villeneuve twins after supper; which was delayed by only a short address from Severus.

"We already know our Head Girl; I believe she has volunteered AHHa as her deputy, and I hope, AHHa, that you will not let her down. As you all know, it's Triwizard year again, which means a suspension of all other outside fixtures I'm afraid. I'll be taking the horsy ones to selected meets as usual and we can have internal games of Quidditch and Quiddpolo. The staff and postgraduate students will put together a scratch team for you; which means we get to play the Asimov twins on our team which should give you almost as much challenge as a professional team, as Zlatko is known for suckering his Seeker counterpart quite royally. Oh and with regards to the post graduates, we have a new music room which is out of bounds to anyone who is not a serious student of music; which is to say Silvina, Julian, Kizzy, Siegfried, and Rainer. There is a pre-school child who also has permission."

Severus had already spoken with Amos Leroy about Kizzy's amazing voice, and had found him enthusiastic about working with children who took their music seriously. He had been impressed by Silvina's published work, and Godfrey's playing, and was much more amenable to suggestion than he had been at school. Severus thought once again that had he stayed at Hogwarts, a nasty situation might have been avoided; but then, one could not be everywhere. It was a shame Amos had not been sent to Prince Peak in the first place.

oOoOo

"Spill, twins," said Yrdl. The entire of the sixth and most of the faculty were to hear what the Villeneuve twins had to say; it was more than Marauder business if Achille planned on interfering with the Triwizard, as in theory any one of the sixth might be involved.

Cecilia giggled.

"Well I was glad of the occlumency lessons, Severus," she said. "I – Antti, don't look at me in outrage, this is out of school and we're next door to being adults. Teachers DO have first names."

"It is then permitted?" asked Antti.

"To be honest, I encourage it – away from the little ones – because you are spending the two years in the sixth training to be adults, and perhaps one day colleagues, even if in different schools," said Severus.

"It will not be easy," said Antti, solemnly.

"Cheer up, Antti, mate," said James Potter's portrait, "It's going to be easier than learning the lesson that sometimes breaking the rules keeps bigger rules."

Antti considered this.

"Thank you; that is so," he said.

It being Antti, nobody threatened to scrag him for holding up the report. Helping Antti to be comfortable with himself was important.

"Anyway, the little tick tried to shove his eyes down my brain, sorry Severus?" as Severus muttered something.

"I merely wished that my reprobate daughter had not invented that graphic, but rather horrible description of legilimensy," said Severus. "Pray go on to where you resisted Achille's eyes down your brain."

Cecilia giggled.

"He thinks he's put a compulsion in me to adore him but as I don't I guess I managed to avoid that," she said. "I thought I'd ask you to look and see if he managed anything more subtle as well."

"He didn't; I already checked," said Severus. "And I am a better legilimens and occlumens than Voldemort and I don't think there are many who surpass me."

"If any," said Yrdl. "And I say, Severus, can we all have a crash course before the Triwizard? I don't trust some of those Russians and any sympathisers of Achille, if there are any, further than I could kick them."

"Wise," said Severus. "And yes, of course; Occlumency classes on… Tuesday evenings, and Sunday afternoons. I'll rope in all the staff who are capable."

"That's probably most of us," said Krait. "Those of us who aren't ex-Marauders have knocked around a bit."

"And we can borrow the Asimov twins too," said Severus, "and invite Amyetis to join in. Good point, Yrdl, sorry Cecilia."

"It was right to raise it," said Cecilia.

"How did you persuade him to let you stay at school and not marry him out of hand?" asked BaHH. "Wasn't he saying you didn't even need OWLs?"

"I told him that the honour of the family required both of us to sign up for the Triwizard as I might surpass Emil, and wouldn't he be PROUD of me if I was Triwizard champion, and then I batted my eyelids a lot."

"I was watching on view-o-sneak; it was a loathsome display of come-hithery," said Emil. "I was nearly ill from watching it. And she let him kiss her."

"But only a kiss, I shrieked and had maidenly fits when he tried to grope me," said Cecilia. "I told him I must be pure, but PURE for him on our wedding night, and the ghastly little freak swallowed it whole and told me what a wonderful example of French womanhood I was."

"Oh, pass the bag someone!" said Crow.

"That was what I meant," said Emil.

"I have to say, I am glad he isn't after Svetlana or me to tie himself diplomatically to Zorn," said Sandalla.

"Too stupid to know its significance," opined Silvina, "at least if half of what I've heard is true."

"Shortsighted and tunnel-visioned more than stupid, per se," said Severus. "And he was pleased that you were to attempt the Triwizard?"

"Yes, he said that I should be the second chance, since he had arranged – arranged mind – that the Beauxbatons champion would be his follower and the inevitable victor," said Cecilia.

"I cannot think that he has subverted Pharamond," said Severus, startled. "I felt nothing and he is blood joined."

"I have no idea who Pharamond is, beyond the soul-print you just projected of him, Severus, but that wasn't the name of the boy Achille has in mind," said Cecilia.

"Go on," said Severus.

"He's a boy called Clarembaut Gandouffe Rénébreux, and by the sound of him he almost deserves it," said Cecilia.

"Gandouffe? Ain't that old French for Gandalf? A bit pretentious wot?" said AHHa.

"I doubt he and his family ever heard of Tolkien," said Flo, dryly. "Tolkien used real names from ancient sources; like that kid, Radagas, in the first, and other names common in Norman French, like Frodo, Drogo, Fredegar, Peregrine and so on. Which pop up in the Wizarding world from time to time because we like the archaeic, sorry Cecilia."

"That's all right, nothing subsides AHHa like a knowledgeable lecture aimed at him," said Cecilia cheerfully. "Like BaHH. Anyway, this Clarembaut is to go into the sixth or Premier at Beauxbatons and wow them all because he's had both English and German tutors at home and took his ELMs early and already has several ELFs as well. But then so did Lionel Dell and Jade, so that's nothing anyone can call him on. And because of that, and because he's studied Arithmancy to high level, Achille is banking on him being the one chosen."

"He might well be," said Severus. "But I rate Pharamond for being flexible. We shall have to see. And if this Clarembaut does stand for Beauxbatons, then our champion must just wipe the floor with him at every point. Most of you are more than capable of having taken OWLs early, and most of you also turn in NEWT-level answers more than half the time anyway, because you will talk about things like Assimilative Correlation by various means and Extrinsic Alteration, and since I've heard those terms from some of you since you were in the second, I don't doubt for a moment that any one of you doesn't have as much knowledge as this French boy who just happens to have the pieces of paper that says he knows the terms. The point is, does he understand them?"

"It is a Marauder thing to learn more than is necessary; and though I know the terms through hearing them discuss things, is it your wish that those of us who do not Maraud should not stand as candidates?" asked Antti.

"Not at all," said Severus. "Marauders tend to pick up the broad knowledge base needed for such things, but there is no reason to suppose you have not as good a chance as many Marauders, especially the excellent way you have been working lately, Antti. And the more able supporters the champion has, the better, and whilst I personally think I know who is going to be chosen, you are a staunch supporter, Antti, and a very able fighter against evil."

Antti flushed and looked pleased. He had no very realistic expectation of being the Prince Peak champion, even though in many schools he would probably feature as the star pupil now he was working to his full potential, but to be valued by the head as a staunch supporter meant a lot to him.

"Well, if that's the burden of your budget of news, Cecilia, that gives me something more to work with, as regards the school seers," said Severus. "Thank you for putting up with being kissed by Achille; I'll ask Sirri to award you your favourite meals for a week to take the taste away."

"Now that's a more practical award than medals and trophies," grinned Cecilia. "I really had to work for that, I affected to be jealous when he said he had someone in Beauxbatons, as though I thought it was a girl he preferred to me. I shall be jolly glad when I can tell him how we filmed his inept lovemaking on omnioculars to show around school for shits and giggles."

"I'd get the diffusion grid against Avada Kedavra up before you say that," said Erica Malfoy Chang, seriously. "He tried to get Dad to arrange a marriage with me, and I was only twelve at the time. He uses Unforgivable curses first and thinks after. Trust me."

"I shall, Madam – er, Erica," said Cecilia, seriously. "I believe you!"

oOoOo

Clarembaut Gandauffe Rénébreux had in the meantime arrived at the lodge where Beauxbatons pupils met, and was busy informing an outraged Première and Terminale classes that he was the only possible choice for the Triwizard, and that it was only the foolish and outmoded rules that had forced him to come to school for a year to mix with the hoi polloi in order to demonstrate his superiority.

He had no idea that his forehead sported the words 'regarde, le petit imbècile' from a hastily murmured chant from Pharamond, who was not about to take lying down the insults to his school and education.

When Clarembaut discovered his facial adornment he demanded that something be done about it, and he was foolish enough to demand a potion to cure the same, from Amédé Cuiliere, who was on duty, and had heard something of the boy's comments.

"Why, Clarembaut, as you are so superior to whichever pupil put it there, you will surely have no trouble removing it," said Amédé. He recognised a chanter's touch, and suspected Pharamond, but had no intention of either removing the curse or telling the new boy how to do so.

Clarembaut had to wear the malediction until he got to the school proper and could appeal to the Headmistress. Olympe Maxime asked some very searching questions about how a boy as old as seventeen might end up being jinxed on his very first day, and became very scathing about people who disrespected their educational establishment and only joined in order to gain personal glory and prestige. However she called for Desolina Uccello, who laughed.

"Dear me, if a boy can't uncurse himself from a corridor curse any second year might manage face to face, and some have been known to manage as a ritual sending, I can't think why he imagines he should be capable of standing for the Triwizard," said Desolina, dismissively. She had already been given chapter and verse by Pharamond, and knew what to expect. As Pharamond had, by this time, received an owl from Cecilia, he had reported this in full, on the expectation that someone who Darryl rated as a chanter should be told the whole story.

Clarembaut went a dull red.

"I have never come across curses like this, it is outside of the scope of proper school work and of the Triwizard," he said.

"It's a fairly standard curse form to be found at ZP, my apologies, ELM, in Dark Arts," said Desolina, dismissively. "_'Silly bugger he may be, let it go and be free. Silly bugger be quite clean, be unseen_'," she chanted in English, which somehow fitted the concept of the curse. "There, my boy, you are free of it," she added.

Clarembaut's English was rudimentary but he had the gist.

"You need not think I will readily forgive you ridiculing me," he hissed.

"Clarembaut, I did not have to remove it. If you do not apologise, I will put it back," said Desolina. Her defiance of the Russian invaders the year before had done wonders for her self confidence.

Clarembaut choked through an apology and rushed off rudely without waiting to be dismissed.

"He will be trouble," said Olympe.

"He's an agent of Achille Villeneuve," said Desolina. "Pharamond told me; his contacts in Prince Peak let him know. Probably before Professor Snape knew, if you were wondering why he hasn't contacted you."

"Ah, these marauders," sighed Olympe. "I am expecting to speak to Severus tonight by floo; no doubt that was what he wanted to talk about. Well, I need have no fears, you are quite as equal to dealing with trouble as Darreeel."

Desolina laughed.

"Well, maybe not, but I'm not bad," she said.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

At the Durmstrang Lodge, Ilarion's brother was quickly installed as Vighard's fag and told to plot with Klarisza Toth. Vighard was feeling very choked that children he had bullied recognised how he wanted to change and trusted their younger siblings to his care. And he was amazed too by how protective he felt towards them! He had been made up to prefect as well, a trust which he appreciated no end, and intended to live up to; which attitude Cacilia had guessed he would have when she had argued Agata Bacso into giving him the chance. The new lower sixth prefects were Wencelada Fernandez, Grishilde Stengel, Zyrillis Genauschören and Lothar Wiesel, a mix of blooded and otherwise. Agata was taking no chances on her pupils being entirely ready for democratic choice, and had asked for postal votes for head boy or girl, after toying with the mixed pleasure of having one of the Eulenspiegel twins as headgirl. She was relieved that her prefects were also much divided on the matter, and on the whole had decided instead for the steadier nature of Alexand Amsel. Alexand had always been an adherent of the twins, but had balked at their madder exploits, and being pure blooded would make even the blood snobs behave. As Xanthe had voted for him, Agata was much soothed that she did not have to fudge the voting but could truthfully claim that the best man had one.

Even if it was only by one vote.

It was not to the head boy, but to the senior marauders that Eve Cherrytree came.

"Look here, twins, I know I'm not in contention for the Triwizard, but would you back me if I entered? I've been reading some things over the hols, and I reckon if I'm present, I might get better divination about things people try on," she said. "I even had some odd and vivid dreams."

"You did well by us when the Russians attacked; we both have respect for your abilities," said Xanthe. "You're one of the senior diviners in school now, so we'll rely on you like mad, along with Yorick, Zyrillis and anything I can dredge up. And I think you've been getting better at it, actually."

"Having something that means something real to work on seems to have brought on my abilities," said Eve. "And by the way Zyrillis is going to be concentrating too hard during, which means he might get sidetracked from his talent, I can see that much."

"I should think it's hard to divine anything if all there is in the future that means anything to you is that breakfast might be late," said Xanthippe. "We'll convene a Marauder meeting and invite you; you'll be brought blindfold, it's not a childish ritual it's to stop you being legilimensed because only Marauders tend to practice occlumensy."

"I shouldn't mind learning," said Eve.

The twins looked at each other, and shrugged and nodded.

"It'd be a useful skill when teaching, too," said Xanthe. "You need to pick up some legilimensy with it, and then when you have a naughty kid, Wencelada can use her divining and you can use some legilimensy alongside it to get at why they are naughty."

Eve flushed.

"I bet Professor Snape legilimensed me, and he didn't get anywhere," she said.

"Yes, well, that's because you were operating with some pretty odd belief structures and only Eve could help Eve," said Xanthippe. "You had to see for yourself. I'm glad you did; you're ok."

Eve flushed again in pleasure. It WAS nice to be liked.

oOoOo

The Triwizard was, of course, much discussed, and Harald Trollkettil said,

"At last you will all see my true worth when I am chosen for the school."

The other sixth formers present dissolved into laugher as if all under a simultaneous tickling charm.

"Harald, any one of the second years has a better chance of being chosen than you," said Xanthippe.

"Any one of the Fourth, anyway," said Vighard, "Though I'd back the second's marauders over an idiot like Harald. Be realistic, man, you're scarcely even adequate at schoolwork, how do you think you could cope with something so far beyond ordinary schoolwork as the Triwizard? If the first task involves anything like dragons you'd run away and cry."

This was too close to the truth for comfort and Harald flushed.

"Well all you can manage is bullying little kids! I shall laugh when the marauders turn you inside out and take your fags off you!"

"You are out of touch, aren't you?" said Vighard, clenching his fists to hold his temper in. "I learned to overcome my violent tendencies last year, and even before I was never sly."

Harald pulled his wand.

"Let's have a proper duel please," said Alexand. "Twins, you set up a piste and I'll get the duty professor to referee, who do we have, anyone know?"

"Professor Panov," said Xanthe. "But Professor Nagy is about somewhere too."

"Whichever," said Alexand, who liked both well enough.

As it happened they got both, as both were interested in watching a duel. The lower forms assembled in cheerfully ghoulish anticipation.

Harald was many things, but he was not about to cheat in a duel. He was unlikely to be able to get away with it. He sulkily mounted the piste and waited for Panyot Panov to give the start.

Vighard had learned more in the holidays spent with Attila and Caecilia and the children than he had learned at school, in many ways, and had at least picked up some entertaining corridor curses. Harald was expecting a pedestrian sort of stinging hex and was surprised to find himself dancing to a rather unholy swingtime treatment of the elegiac opera of Callinus Strainz while moths streamed out of his nose and his wand began producing purple bubbles.

"Oh very nice, Vighard, you have come on," said Xanthe.

Harald threw down his wand.

"I can't be expected to duel if he won't take it seriously," he whined.

"I was taking it seriously," said Vighard. "But if you concede, I rather fancy that my point is proved."

Harald threw what could only be described as a royal hissy fit, and Panyov awarded the win to Vighard.

oOoOo

The new ones had found the concept of a duel a little scary as well as rather exciting, and Vighard was looked upon with much admiration for his versatile hexes. It has to be admitted that Klarisza and Ivaylo derived much satisfaction and vicarious kudos from being his fags.

"The Sternschuppe family is quite an old one, though their purity of blood is in question in the eighteenth century," said one of the new girls. "I will offer to let him take me as a fag too; I am pure-blooded, it will be of some help to him."

"He might not want you," said Klarisza with asperity.

"Nonsense. He has picked badly with unknowns like you and the Bulgar boy; I am a German girl. He can get rid of you and take me instead, and you can fag for other nobodies."

"Blitzen! I'm sure the Headmistress will love you calling her family nobodies," said Klarisza, who was happy to fight her corner. "And for that matter the relative of a friend of a friend of hers; Ivaylo is sponsored by Viktor Krumm."

"Oh, you are mistaken, the Head cannot be interested in any connection of that Blood Traitor," said the girl, and stalked off towards Vighard, who was keeping his eye on his fags and managed to notice that both were not happy.

"What do you want, kiddy?" said Vighard.

"You will want me for a fag," said the girl. "My name is Fredegonda Tiefkessel, and I am pure blooded, and my grandfather is in the government. You can get rid of those trash who are your fags; one even claims to be a connection of the blood traitor Krumm, and the other to be some kind of connection to the Head, and I am sure she is lying."

Vighard had to work hard not to lose his temper.

"If you think I want a fag from the kennels of that old fart, you can think again, you rude little girl," he said. "And to call liar the cousin of the Head – which she is as I know by fact, because her brother is a friend of mine – is most uncultured! And as it happens I support Viktor Krumm and all he stands for, so take your pure blood and find a blood snob, if you can find one, oh, actually Trollkettil might care, the boy who can't duel. He's not very cultured either."

Fredegonda stared.

"You cannot surely mean that you are turning down my services? But I can do you much good!"

"I think you are deluding yourself," said Vighard. "Now run along, little girl, I have better things to do than to waste time talking to a silly baby like you."

It was enough of a tone of disparagement to make Fredegonda realise that he really did not want her as a fag.

"You will be sorry you have been so dismissive and disrespectful!" she said. "I will write to my grandfather and he will make the head take your prefectship away!"

Vighard laughed.

"Dream on, little girl," he said. "The Head makes her own choices and would even argue with the governors if she thought them acting foolishly; which Eduard Von Frettchen would not. And he is the senior governor, and I know him, so I can make a good guess about his actions. Now run away; you bore me."

Vighard did not know Eduard Von Frettchen well, but he had met him at the Herbology fest, and knew that his blood sang. And he knew that Agata Bacso was not about to be bullied by the notoriously reactionary minister who was this brat's grandfather. He did not have to get angry with her out of fear; her threats were a joke and he had powerful family to protect him. He was no longer alone!

And that, almost more than anything else, meant that he could control himself.

oOo

"You aren't having her as your fag, are you, Vighard?" asked Ivaylo, anxiously, and Klarisza tucked a confiding hand in his arm.

"No, my faglings, I am not," said Vighard. "She is a nasty piece of work and her grandfather is an old fool, and we do not have to worry, because we have so many powerful friends and contacts that he can do nothing. You will understand just how powerful your contacts are when you are full Marauders; but take it from me, you are protected, as I am."

"And we are supposed too to protect," said Klarisza. "We will jinx her into a ball if she pushes any of the others around."

"It's what Marauders do," said Vighard. "In a way I am sorry for her, knowing no better, but learning that such behaviour is unacceptable may help her, too, in teaching her what is reasonable and acceptable."

Klarisza looked doubtful but Ivaylo dutifully nodded.

"We will help her if we can, Vighard," he said.

oOoOo

Fredegonda set about firmly finding out the birth status of all the new children, and which were German, with some intent to organise what those with some muggle knowledge called a 'German woman's league' or, as Xanthippe put it a 'Grindelwald Jungen'. This went down like a wingless dragon with Magda Wiesel, whose brother Jochen had been a founder member of the ECC in his days at school, and whose brother Lothar, in the lower sixth, was something of a supporter of the Marauders, even though not of their number.

"Marauders don't believe in racism you silly moo," said Magda, "and I want to Maraud, because my idiot brothers never committed to it."

"Maraud? What is this nonsense?" demanded Fredegonda.

"Marauders overthrew Gerhardt Grindelwald, didn't you know?" said Magda. "And they founded the free school for Goblins and muggleborn."

"They must be weaklings then to need to associate with such trash- awk!" said Fredegonda as Klarisza managed one of the jinxes her brother had taught her, and in a flash of green light, Fredegonda was a delicate avocado green.

"Welcome to the Marauders, Magda," said Klarisza.

"Nice spell, I was scared it was something else!" said Magda.

"It was invented by the English Marauders to follow the form of the killing curse to help them come up with the counter to it," said Klarisza. "We are but three; and if we work for our remove we can join the five Marauders in the second year, unless anyone else arrives who is decent, but from what I can see, most of the rest are either nasty or dippy."

This was not altogether unfair comment, since many of the new arrivals were already jockeying for position and trying to find the most powerful sixth formers to fag for, save those who were trying not to be seen by anyone. True, they had considered a Swiss boy, by name Tunrumbert Neff, who had been kind to a foul-mouthed but plainly frightened Bulgarian boy, Dimitar Zhivkov, but Tunrumbert's cheerful assertion that he had failed the Prince Peak entrance exam made them chary of including him. Tunrumbert and Dimitar were admitted cautiously to the ranks of 'those to be Marauded on behalf of' as Ivaylo extracted more from Dimitar that his cousin, Penka Giorgieva, in the fourth, expected him to fag for her, and was inclined to nip and pinch and enact other such mean punishments. Klarisza and Ivaylo promptly dumped Tunrumbert and Dimitar on gentle Scholastica Uccello as fags, knowing that gentle as she was, she would take no trouble from Penka.

Fredegonda, meanwhile, went screeching to Panyov Panov about being set on and bullied. Panyov, being no fool, told her not to make such a fuss about a minor corridor curse and not to cry like a baby of six when she wasn't even hurt. As she might have been if she had annoyed anyone in a creative sort of mood, as he pointed out.

Meanwhile the putative Marauders sounded out another German girl to see if they might steal her from Fredegonda; the child had only one eye, and seemed quiet without being withdrawn. Jutta Hexenburg, however, was horrified by the idea of educating goblins and elves, and looked so horrified that even Klarisza gave up and merely delivered her to the Eulenspiegel twins to sort out her eye.

Jutta had lost her eye to the carelessly flourished whip of a goblin groom; as her father paused to whip the goblin to death before seeing to his daughter's wellbeing, the goblin cursed her and wished it might never heal. A dying curse being a powerful thing, Jutta's eye had never been replaced.

"A decent father would have worried about his daughter before dealing with the cause," said Xanthippe, tartly. "However, it's not hard."

"You're lying! It's impossible!" cried Jutta.

"Brat, you are afraid of false hope, and we forgive you for calling two of the most senior members of the school liars, because you fear it may not be truth," said Xanthe, before her more intemperate sister could tell the child to get lost and not get a new eye. "You will see that we are capable of more than most healers, save those at the new St Bernard's hospital."

With that, Xanthe stood hard on her sister's foot, pulsed in the chanting team and proceeded to regrow another eye by breaking the death curse first, no easy matter. Vighard joined the chanting; he was hoping to take the ZP at the same time as his ZHs, and study on his own time, perhaps at Prince Peak, as Cacilia and Attila had promised to sponsor him a year's post graduate study there.

Jutta cried out and begged them not to hurt her as her new eye grew, and as she realised she could see perfectly she gasped and said,

"Why, you were not lying after all!"

"Most people say 'thank you' when other people do them a massive favour," said Xanthippe, dryly. "But then, some species of little racist like you, even if you have got more cause than most, can't be expected to have manners."

Jutta flushed.

"Thank you very much," she managed.

"You can be my fag, if you like, brat, but only if you steer clear of that Breadandbutter girl," said Xanthippe, mangling Fredegonda. Xanthe raised an eyebrow. Xanthippe plainly meant to work on the racism of a girl who might be worth rescuing from her poor values. Well, maybe it would work.

Others to watch out for were German boy Helmgar Nachteule, who loosed a nasty tongue on poor Tunrumbert for being stupid to want to go to a school for blood taints and animals as well as too stupid to even pass their stupid exam; a hasty tripping hex from Ivaylo meant that Helmgar managed to fire a stinging hex into his own foot instead of into the Swiss boy. Tunrumbert also confided to the would-be Marauders that one of the girls was also Swiss, and had been refused the entry exam into Prince Peak on the grounds that the scary Professor Snape did not like her or her parents.

And then there was Kardos Csillag, a Hungarian, whom Klarisza knew was a relation in some measure to the Czerny family, which had virtually become extinct as a result of all of them joining the gathering of Dark Wizards under Zhanargul's Uncle Tootles.

Nobody remembered his real name any more, which was probably 'the most unkindest cut of all', had any of them known enough Shakespeare to describe it that way.

oOoOo

The Czerny family was much on the mind of Kreacher Black and his wives Polly and Aurelia. Aurelia was human, and had been married to Ferencz Czerny, uncle to Zsombor Czerny, who had been expelled from Durmstrang for sundry offences, not least of which was irritating Agata Bacso with his calm assumption that she would back him as a Hungarian of good blood over anyone else. And especially Zoltan Nagy, half brother of Agata's son Sigismund.

Because of the stealing of all the Czerny elves – once free, Ferencz's half elf son Zaly was able to free all others of Czerny blood as he had human blood – and the careful liberation of Czerny funds by sundry Marauder supporters like Eduard Von Frettchen, to encourage the education of poor Hungarian wizarding folk and goblins, Zsombor was in an orphanage. And there was no reason to suppose that Hungarian wizarding orphanages were any better than German ones.

As the Czerny family seemed to display ungovernable and unreasonable tempers, Kreacher was looking into some kind of chemical inbalance in the brain. Kreacher had been doing significant research and discovered a familial link between the Czerny family, and the English Baddock family, and promptly discussed with Severus the form of the inbalance and had subsequently been chanting over his stepchildren to make sure that they were free of any such inbalance. He was inclined therefore to be swayed by gentle Aurelia's pleas that Zsombor was only a little boy still, and needed help.

Kreacher would perhaps have left Zsombor to stew had he not been the recipient of ruthless help and love despite himself from Willow and Sirius Black, as well as having heard good reports of the Baddock boy currently in the sixth at Hogwarts since being chanted over by Severus.

And as Kreacher had been operating under some some false belief structures through much of his life, he could find sympathy for a boy brought up in twisted, hate-filled family.

oOo

Zsombor had been having a miserable time. He had been outraged when all his family elves disappeared, if not entirely upset that his parents did not return from the mission they had gone on. When he was taken into custody as an unsupported minor he was furious, and when dumped in the state orphanage, which did not even bother to segregate human and goblin orphans he had thrown a full-scale tantrum, demanding to be given his rights as he was pure-blood of good family.

Naturally, the other orphans were pleased to enact some pay-back on a young wizard of pure blood and good family, and Zsombor was thoroughly beaten up. His wounds were tended, to his horror, by a half goblin girl who sympathised with him about being one of the outcast.

Zsombor tried to push Irenke away – she knew no other name – but the little girl somehow recognised that he was cutting off his nose to spite his face, and firmly looked after him, until he grudgingly accepted her friendship.

Finding out that Zsombor had received some schooling, Irenke begged him to teach her all he knew, and having nothing better to do, Zsombor started teaching her the theory he had learned. The Hungarian orphans were not organised to work with the ruthless efficiency of the German orphans, just bundled together, fed and clothed after a fashion, and left to survive or otherwise. They were counted as criminals for existing, which viewpoint was reinforced since most left the orphanage and became criminals, having no other training to fall back on. It was everyone for themselves, and having an ally made all the difference. Especially when Irenke asked tentatively if it was not possible to learn to cast spells wordlessly and wandlessly after the English fashion, since elves managed magic without wands, and goblins used a form of chanting and hammering in patterns to enchant goblin-made items. Having been exposed to chanting, however briefly, Zsombor became quite excited, and he and Irenke experimented, and were quickly able to force the bullies to leave them alone, as there was nobody to rescue THEM from the consequences of having their hands and ears switched. Having had it done to him, Zsombor knew how uncomfortable it could be, and having no idea how advanced a switching charm was, had worked himself as he had never worked at school to work out how to do it. As nobody took any notice of the children, the residue of jinxes was not even noticed by the warders – to call them carers would have been a misnomer – and as the director was even-handed at least in his dislike of all orphans, the biggest bullies would have got as much short shrift for sneaking as any of the younger ones for complaining of being bullied.

Zsombor managed to extract a promise of protection for himself and Irenke from the big bully, in exchange for switching his hands and ears back, which was harder than the other way, but was a valuable lesson in willpower and applying a chant, aided by Irenke. The big bully was at least a quarter troll, and had probably learned to bully to avoid being bullied, but that did not occur to Zsombor, who just used the alliance. He did not, after all, know any better. At least life was less nervous now, but he had to be on his guard the whole time. It was a horrible revelation to the spoilt boy.

oOo

It was nervous when a tall, dark haired wizard with a Mephistophelian beard arrived at the orphanage. Selling orphans into brothels or to individuals for one reason or another was not unknown, and whilst none of the orphans knew exactly what happened to any orphans thus sold, rumours were rife regarding any who left. None ever returned. The older girls considered it advantageous to be chosen by someone who appeared to be the factotum of a wealthy man because at least that meant they would probably only be slaves to one master, and not to anyone who paid, but of course there was, too, the risk that a wealthy master might have exotic tastes that might prove fatal.

Or even require virgins, if any kept their virginity intact, for sacrifice.

This wizard was looking for a boy; Kreacher had used ruthless legilimensy and had discovered what the usual proceedings were, and he had no desire to draw attention to himself and the transaction. He was quite pleased with the sinister looking form he made at full human size and proportions; if the Czerny boy needed cowing, that form should cow him until Kreacher got him to a place where he could explain.

"I'll have that one," said Kreacher, pointing at Zsombor: he knew what the boy looked like, though the closed look spoke its own story about this orphanage, and Kreacher longed to free all the orphans.

"Please sir, he's not used to being hurt, take me instead!" said Irenke.

Zsombor gasped. He had heard enough to reckon that he could guess some of what this wizard wanted.

Kreacher regarded Irenke thoughtfully. The Czerny boy had learned something if he had managed to make a friend of anyone at all, let alone a part bred girl.

"Well, boy, should I take your little friend instead?" he asked, jeeringly.

Zsombor warred with himself. Part of him wanted to say 'yes', to throw anyone to the unknown; and motives like being left alone to cope as well as concern for Irenke warred within him.

"No!" he said. Irenke could take care of herself better now, knowing spells, and probably Tomko the part troll would continue to protect her.

Kreacher grinned.

"I'll take them both," he said. "And that big lout too," he pointed at Tomko.

Irenke clung hard to Zsombor's hand. She strongly suspected that the wizard was the sort who would enjoy making those who had affection for each other hurt each other, or agree to do unspeakable things with threats held over their friends, and wished she had not spoken. It was too late now.

Zsombor put an awkward arm around her, the first time he had done so. And the evil-looking wizard was paying for the three of them, and then commanding them to hold his robe. They took hold obediently; they had little choice. Refusal would bring punishment from someone. And then they were apparating smoothly away, without the usual sick feeling of side-along apparating, reflected Zsombor. The other two had nothing to compare it to, of course, never having associated with wizards capable of such advanced magic. One did not become a warder or even director in an orphanage if one had any magical skills to speak of at all. In fact, Zsombor managed to reflect, they might almost as well have been muggles in a muggle orphanage; if muggles had them and didn't eat unwanted children or something.

oOo

The room was isolate, in some kind of tower. Irenke was trying not to sob in sheer terror, and Zsombor was working hard on not soiling himself.

"Go and use the lavatory, boy," said Kreacher, pointing to a door. "I have work to do on you, and you won't be able to get up while I'm doing it. You won't want to pee in your pants."

Zsombor fled; at least that was a humiliation he was to be spared, and used the facilities thoroughly. He returned looking scared but more comfortable.

"You two can use the lavatory as you need," said Kreacher, knowing a few of the crueller tricks of Durmstrang in the old days, and assuming the orphanage used similar 'withdrawal of privileges' as punishments. Irenke fled gratefully. Tomko was not clever enough to imagine as much as the younger children.

Kreacher pointed to a couch, and Zsombor regarded it, uncertainly.

"What… what are you going to do?" he asked.

"Your family has a defect in the brain," said Kreacher. "I'm going to take it out. You have a relatively mild form or you wouldn't have been able to make friends, but it's there, and your wretched parents made it worse. Get comfortable; this may take some time, I'm not in the same league as the likes of Severus Snape or Lucius Malfoy."

Zsombor lay down obediently, rather impressed by the casual mention of such famous wizards and the implication that if this wizard was not as powerful as them, he was at least close enough to be able to mention it. Which assumption was of course quite true; Kreacher was a powerful being since he had been freed from the guilt of the failure to destroy the horcrux, and had been able to report to the portrait of Regulus that it was, finally, destroyed.

Kreacher drew out Zsombor's Malfoy lines, and began chanting.

Presently Zsombor tried to sit up, and Kreacher gently pushed him back without pausing in the chanting. Irenke came over to take his hand, and Zsombor did not stop her. Tomko watched with flat incomprehension. At last, Kreacher had finished.

"I… some things I can understand better now," said Zsombor.

"You'll find life easier from now on," said Kreacher. "You are coming to live with your aunt Aurelia, and you are going to have to cope with the fact that I have taken her as my second wife and adopted her children, and also the illegitimate child of her husband."

"Like Mr Malfoy has many wives," said Zsombor, eagerly.

"Yes, because I am a powerful wizard," said Kreacher, "Even though I am not human," and he shrugged back into his normal form. Zsombor stared.

"What… what are you?" he asked.

"An elf who has overcome the curse that made us all so ridiculously small," said Kreacher. "A free elf with a free elf wife as well as a human one. And you'll live with it or be in trouble."

"I don't like being in trouble," said Zsombor. "But… you are able to be so powerful?"

"You didn't think goblins or half goblins could learn magic until you taught me," said Irenka. "And I can cast wandless and wordless which lots of wizards can't."

Kreacher smiled upon her.

"You, my child, are out of the ordinary," he said. "And Zsombor has raised himself beyond the ordinary in learning the same and in placing his trust in you, even though hitherto he has found human – I use the term loosely – relations difficult to comprehend. Now he KNOWS how loyal you are, and that he is loyal to you. And perhaps he also understands that Tomko bullied to stop himself being bullied?"

"I… I hadn't thought about it," said Zsombor.

"Yeah," said Tomko, hearing his name and following some of the conversation. "You do it to them before they do it to you."

"You will learn how to accept that not everyone wants to hurt you, Tomko, and you will train to be a bodyguard to my children," said Kreacher.

Tomko beamed.

The advantage of being part troll was in having the chance of being chosen to be a bodyguard, which was a better life than most might anticipate on leaving the orphanage; and it was usually the half trolls who were picked, not those of uncertain blood degree like Tomko.

"And what about me?" said Irenke.

"I'll adopt you along with Zsombor," said Kreacher. "And you can go to school with my other older adopted son, Zaly. Your uncle lay with an elf, Zsombor, and Zaly's birth killed her. He is very talented."

Zsombor was shocked; in so many ways. His life was turned upside-down again.

"My mother was a whore, you now," said Irenke. "She had no choice after I was born."

"No, I don't suppose she did," said Kreacher. "I am glad you remember her, and speak defensively; it means you loved her, and she you."

"She did love me," said Irenke, and burst into tears, "So I'm luckier than Zsombor who was only a possession."

"You haven't had a great start in life, either of you," said Kreacher. "And Zsombor has been taught some very wrong things. But you'll start Schloss Adler after Christmas when you've had time to be used to a real family. And when Zsombor has learened all that it means; and Zaly has to get used to having a brother whom he knows as a little stinker, and settles down to giving you a chance."

"Why?" asked Zsombor.

"I had a second chance myself," said Kreacher, simply. "And as it's time for Kaffee und Kuchen I suggest we all repair to the dining room and eat."


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

It would be a while before Zsombor was to be trusted to be alone with any of his cousins, Juliska at five, the oldest, Titusz at four and Istvan at two the youngest; or his new adoptive siblings, Regulus now eighteen months old or small Lydia, Aurelia's tiny and new half elven child. However he could be encouraged to play with them and be patient, and learn that a big sibling was expected to look out for and protect younger ones, as Zaly would look out for him and for Irenke at school.

Zaly wrote a letter of support, and only Zaly's best friend Grelleg knew how much Zaly had fought with himself to be prepared to treat Zsombor as one more damaged child enslaved in bad behaviour by circumstances. Zsombor would be unlikely to recall Zaly; but Zaly recalled Zsombor, and it was only his trust in Kreacher that made him ready to try. Kreacher had discussed this move with Zaly before the term had begun, and Zaly had made himself be optimistic about it. After all, Kreacher knew more about feeling malicious and being full of loathing for all the world as an expression of self-loathing than most.

It would take a calm home life and gentle training to overcome Zsombor's natural resort to violence as a way to solve problems, even with the imbalance in his brain sorted out, but as he was essentially in a similar state to capture shock, Kreacher hoped he and his ladies would manage to help the boy without too much trouble.

oOoOo

Meanwhile, all the schools were preparing for the start of the Triwizard, with those within age busy soul-searching over whether they intended to volunteer to go along and try. Even the small schools whose champions might have less chance of doing well had an air of suppressed excitement, because doing as well as they could still showed their school in a good light – as Engelbert Hellibore put it in his own academy – and secured them the chance to meet; and might both learn from, and educate, those of other schools – as Professor Neville Longbottom put it, in the free school in London.

It may be said that Neville did not have high expectations of any of his pupils; coming as they did, on the whole, from a depressed neighbourhood, they tended to be drawn from those humans and goblins whose talents were somewhat in question at the best of times, and the two brightest and best of his students, Storm and Zephyra, who were cousins, had been sponsored to Hogwarts, where they had promptly become quite average students instead of the top of the class. The other girl who might have been sponsored had decided she preferred being the big fish in a small pool; Jocelyne Todd was certain she was going to be the school Triwizard champion.

Neville was not so sure. He had been something of a late developer himself, and had been delighted to see Riker Shorg – the family was of mixed blood and had dropped the 'gan' more than a generation before – and his cousin, Austin Crockford start to realise their full potential. This extensive family was descended from the Withers family of wizards, via runaway twin daughters and their goblin groom, and one of the family was ambitious enough for his daughter to be down for Prince Peak. As the girl's father was marrying Amarantha Keil, who could well afford it, that was fair enough. Amarantha had offered to sponsor any of her stepdaughter's cousins who were sufficiently talented as well, but as yet there had been no takers. The Crockford branch, including the Shorg line, were remarkably fecund however, and who knew what might happen in the future, especially as Amarantha's fiancé, Tom, had talked them all into dropping the traditional counting of how goblin their offspring might be, including the informal 'one third' which was actually twenty-one sixty-fourths. It did seem a little irrelevant to Neville, but he knew that his pupils did seem to care about the degree in which they were mixed race; a form of inverse snobbery. As it happened, Riker was counted one third goblin and his cousin one sixteenth – five sixty-fourths if anyone cared – but they had started describing themselves as 'part goblin' and being aggressively unable to count. Alas, Riker was poor at Arithmancy generally, as well as at Neville's own first love, Herbology, but he was a talented Transfigurationist and had a bump of direction. As did his sister, Ivy, only in the fifth, who might well take up a sponsored place in the Prince Peak sixth form. She was good on a broom too, and might, if nothing else, take a quidditch place if her other talents were not enough to satisfy Severus. A pity she was too young for the Triwizard; she would have a better chance than diffident Austin. Neville debated dropping hints about how to get round the age line, and decided that only those who came up with them on their own really ought to be the ones doing so.

oOoOo

Engelbert Hellibore did not have unrealistic expectations of his would-be contenders either; but he did hope that they might at least equal Beauxbatons and surpass both the free school and the Russians. Indeed, his major exhortation to his boys was to beat the Russians.

"Why, sir?" asked Gerald Kettle of the lower sixth.

"Because they have tried the takeover of both Durmstrang and Prince Peak by force, and we want to make sure they don't get any funny ideas about invading us," said Englebert, who was at least quite honest about his enlightened self-interest.

This was accepted as quite reasonable, and Englebert surveyed the sixteen boys he would be taking to try their hand at the Triwizard; he had eight each in each year, and none of the parents had been unwilling to sign permission notes for any who would not be seventeen until later in the competition. He reflected on their talents.

On paper, probably the most likely to be chosen was Ulysses Hobday, who was already making the assumption that he would be champion; he was academic and patient enough to work his way through a problem, and Englebert wished he did not dislike the slyness of the boy quite so much. Unlike Kenneth Puisel, who was a delightful boy and who only failed to cause more disruption than he did because most of the time his wand was waiting to be repaired. Gerin Potts was a bit of a one-trick pony, being good at Arithmancy, though he was fairly good at Quidditch too; and Jake Jennings too, whose academic eggs lay in his ability with DADA. Granville Kettle, Gerald's brother was above average all round and managed to give the impression of being no more than adequate. Caspar Jefferson, who knew how to enjoy life, was about as much use magically off a horse as the horse itself. Sewell Moonshine was average, if you ignored his tendency to lecture about things he knew nothing about; and Cassius Blaise tended to give up before he had begun. So much for the Upper Sixth. Gerald Kettle, like his brother, was a fair all-rounder, and more self-confident with it. Norman Tugwood might neigh most of the time, but at least he backed his horsiness with good work. Sardo Mordaunt – there was a cousin of his working in Hogwarts, Englebert recalled – was good. And hard working. He was not poor at any class, though he did not ride and was known to make sarcastic comments about those who did. Spartacus Mandrake aspired to average save in Quidditch; Nicholas Plank, a cousin in some degree of Hogwarts' Professor of Domestic Beast Care, talked a good talk and turned in what might loosely be described as work if you were feeling tolerant. Thorvald Keil was another reasonable all-rounder, quidditch mad, and horsey enough to brag that his cousin Amarantha planned to revive the Withers family having found a part-goblin branch of theirs. This did not go down too well with those who disliked goblins, but Thorvald had no side about anyone. And then there were the Grailsquest twins. Hannibal and Hasdrubel could be brilliant – at times. And beyond brilliant in combination. Individually they showed less well on the whole.

Engelbert sighed. There were at least a few possibilities; Ulysses, Granville, Gerald, Norman, Sardo and Thorvald were the only ones who were in with a real chance. Less than half of those who wished to go. And he had a sneaking suspicion that any one of Severus' pupils over the age of 13 could take on his top boys and run rings round them!

oOoOo

Severus had received the names of those who wanted to try for the Triwizard, or to go along and support, and was ashamed of feeling relieved that Rose Hubble had not put her name down. He was very fond of the cheerful girl, but rather feared that Olympe Maxime would throw an outsize hissy fit if Rose did anything like cover Beauxbatons in boils, or break her wand and fill the corridors with Hubble bubbles.

On the whole, those who had chosen to attend were fairly realistic, or, like Antti, determined to play their part. The Upper Sixth had returned all the Marauders, that was the Zorn and Jorkins twins, Silvina, Julian and AHHa; and also Vya Kalinka on general principles, and Flo because she was Head Girl. The Lower Sixth had no less talented Marauders, so that was BaHH, Crow, Yrdl and Batty, with Arbrek, Cecilia and Emil as blooded; and Antti because it was Right. One could hear the capital as he declared it. And having a more than competent potioneer like Antti along to help if any antidotes were needed was not a bad thing at all.

In the meantime, though there might not be any fixtures played, Severus gave a blanket permission for the school to watch quidditch matches played by the Spartz Spectaculars, even if that clashed with schoolwork, so that the school might enjoy seeing two old boys in the persons of the Lowther twins playing as professional beaters. Sometimes you had to be flexible.

oOoOo

Jade informed her combined sixth that twenty-one of them was too many and she would need some to volunteer not to go.

"We don't have much chance," said Lena, quickly, indicating her twin and herself "And it would be scary to have to meet all those other people, especially any supremacists."

"I may not be up to scratch, but I'd love the experience," said Franz Eichwurtzel. Theodore Kranz scowled. He might know deep down that any one of the goblins in his year and the one above had a better chance than he, but one reason for wanting to come to Schloss Adler had been the chance to be in the Triwizard, even though he had been quickly disillusioned as to how superior he might be! Yrse wriggled.

"I should like to go along," she said, wistfully.

"I don't especially want to go, like the twins, I don't want to be on display and have some fatuous twerp try to make something of me being pure blood," said Kristel Kirsch.

"I'll stay too then," said Friedrich Spinnertanz. "I know I can't touch at least three of the original class. It might be fun, but actually, I'd rather get better grades for not having my work disrupted."

"Spoken like a man of good sense," said Jade, dryly. "If we weren't cocking a snook at the Russians, I'd be tempted to opt out the school entirely."

"I don't have a prayer," said Kasimir Wieselkind, "Though I would like to BE there just to make Cousin Herbert have conniptions."

"It's a valid reason," said Jade.

"I'm not so talented myself," said Ktell, "Should I drop out?"

"No, man, you're there with your curse breaking for when the Russians try something," said Kole.

"If you don't think it would let Uncle Eduard down, I would rather not be on display," said Magda. She flushed and added, "Ritter does not mind; I already asked him."

Jade regarded her thoughtfully. Ritter would not mind; Magda displayed herself well as his wife-to-be on horseback, and in her impeccable dancing. The gentle girl would not enjoy herself. She nodded.

"I'll miss having you there," whispered Biirta.

"You'll be too busy nosing around for your Lucius; you won't notice I'm not there," said Magda. This was true enough for Biirta to flush and laugh.

Jade did not feel that Daria Nachtstern nor Oskar Wurzel had much chance either, but one could not deny them the chance as they kept mum.

"Sixteen is manageable," she said. "Some of you know you have little chance; but I expect you all to be good supporters of whoever is chosen and just enjoy the experience without causing any trouble," and she looked firmly at Theodoric. Theodoric had the grace to look uncomfortable. Jade wondered if she should issue a blanket ban to the lower school Marauders in jinxing any potential contender they disliked to prevent them from going, and decided that it would be improper to assume that they would be so unfair. Theodoric was no Achille to try to make trouble the way Achille Crouch-Villeneuve had done over his cousin Lynx at the Triwizard in which Jade had taken part. Lionel and co had just made it plain to Achille that he would not be attending any gatherings after the first. If Theodoric was a pain, his contemporaries would deal with him.

oOoOo

In Hogwarts, David knew he would probably have at least two dozen applicants; but on the other hand, knowing what he did of those he was fairly certain would put their names forward, he was equally sure that enough of them would refuse to go back to support their fellows if they were not chosen that they would soon drop to manageable numbers.

It was then David had his brilliant idea, and he had a long talk with the Sorting Hat.

It was, after all, a hat for sorting, and that need not be specifically into houses.

The hat laughed a lot, and agreed that it would choose those who had the best chance of displaying the most sporting behaviour as well as choosing on ability, and David assembled the entire of the upper school who would be over seventeen by the end of the competition to explain that the group he intended to take would be chosen by the Sorting Hat.

"That's not fair!" said Cyprian Ogren immediately.

"Why not?" asked David. "It's a hat for sorting. I can't take the lot of you; a fine thing it would be if I invaded Beauxbatons with more than fifty people! And I know some of you have no intention of putting your names forward, but perhaps the Hat will help you if this is merely diffidence and not a true reflection of your abilities. I'll take as many as the Hat says I should. He knows your innermost thoughts and abilities; what could be fairer? Not a choice by me or by the staff, based purely on academic achievement. That might not indicate hidden inner reserves that any of you have not chosen to show in your classwork. Though Merlin help anyone who is chosen who doesn't bother to return at least an 'E' average," he added.

As Cyprian was rather erratic in his classwork, being rather too preoccupied by Quidditch, he squirmed.

The hat duly picked, and David was relieved to find that it considered just twenty-three to be suitable. There might be some who surprised him; but on the other hand, sometimes determination to succeed, especially when allied to a cause, carried one further than sheer academic ability.

The Upper Sixth offerings were, from Gryffindor, Roger Blake, Damian Malfoy, Korban gan Nork, Jabala gan Kordach, Aubrey Vane, a lad who was not a joiner beyond the MSHG, and Rosemary Spikenard. Lavender, not chosen, promptly had hysterics at being passed over when her twin was not.

"I'll drop out," said Rosemary, hastily. "I don't want to upset Lavender."

"And will you drop out of marriage if you fall in love because Lavender has not?" said David. "It's about time Lavender grew up to discover that she is her own person and doesn't need to act like a baby and lean on you."

Lavender had full scale hysterics and David turned to the Slytherin.

This was Nigel Baddock, now a much happier boy, with improved grades to show for it; Danzo gan Tokar, Zajala Malfoy-Tobak, and Storm and Zephyra. No surprises there.

Hufflepuff gave only Kevin Slugworthy who said apologetically that he thought he ought to give it a jolly old shot, being Head Boy and all.

Ravenclaw yielded only Reginald Pike, a boy who was very good at Quidditch but who had stayed out of the Great Quidditch Row. And if Randall Corner and Ferdinand Belby were disappointed, they should perhaps have given more attention to learning, and less to rivalries.

David was certain that this effect would also preclude the likes of Edward Kettleburn and Orlando Ogden, who might have pulled up their game but were still inclined to bicker over trivialities. And when the Gryffindors of the Lower Sixth were hatted, to his delight this proved so, as Charis Rawlins and Tobala gan Torlo were chosen.

Hazel Spikenard, convinced that she was more talented than her older sister Rosemary, became the second Spikenard to have hysterics and declared that the Hat only chose Marauders.

"Nonsense, Spikenard," said Aubrey Vane, "I'm not a Marauder and never have been. Marauders tend to be the high flyers, is all. It's sifting out the time-wasters and weebly little girls like you."

This was a definite tact-failure, but as Hazel was going to have hysterics in any case, she might as well have them in spades and David ignored her.

Slytherin returned U-may Naga, Isambard Cooper, Nathan Malfoy, Walter Crabbe, now restored to his proper age group, and David passed on hastily before Walter Trimmer could make any comments about Walter Crabbe not being a proper sixth former.

It has to be said that the Hufflepuff of that year had no contenders. Most of them were happily working in the Special Sixth on more vocational projects rather than in academe, though some might be taking a single NEWT alongside their vocational training, like Ethelburt Cramp, who was a very able potioneer, and was learning apothecary skills with limited herbology and transfiguration to back up his potioneering. He was also learning how to use almanacs and other tables to the best of his ability since in Arithmancy he was quite capable of calculating that the time needed to catch an Ashwinder before it went on fire was measurable in Geologic aeons. David had wondered if Ethelburt might have been a contender as the nearest thing the house of that year had to an academic; but Ethelburt merely heaved a sigh of relief when not chosen.

Ravenclaw produced three possibles; Jingjie Chang, who could not be supposed to be a surprise to anyone, Wendy Waffling, and Odilia O'Hare.

There was one more possible, and Rudatz gan Zelbukek and Adam Gardiner approached the Hat with some diffidence. Rudatz was, like Adam, a year below his chronological age, and had worked to be lifted a year at that, after starting late.

"What're they doing here?" asked Cyprian Ogren.

"They will be in age before the end of the competition and their parents have given permission," said David. Adam was seventeen at the beginning of June; and as the new concept of letting the competition follow the exams had seemed a good idea, he was going to be in age before the competition ended, and thus eligible.

"Why is that new boy only in the fifth then?" demanded Walter Trimmer. He already knew about Rudatz.

"Because I am flexible enough to permit pupils to overcome disadvantages like illness and family problems, which is why I am Headmaster and why you and Cyprian are going to each write me one hundred lines of 'I do not question the decisions of the faculty' in which Misses Lavender and Hazel Spikenard may join you," said David, evenly.

Adam ignored them and sat on the stool, putting on the gaily coloured hat that had been refurbished by Lilith.

"_Do you want to go_?" asked the Hat.

"_Yes, because I want to support Lilith as Sextus isn't old enough to be allowed to_," said Adam silently in his head. _"And I know she's going to get in_."

"Yes!" said the Hat out loud. Adam looked stunned but pleased. Walter Trimmer opened his mouth but caught Adam's eye as the new Marauder looked at him; and shut it again.

"Welcome aboard, Adam, mate," said Isambard Cooper. And Adam knew that was a welcome from all the Marauders and that it was to more than just the Triwizard hopefuls.

When it was announced who would be going, Adam's siblings cheered wildly.

"And next time, Andy will be old enough and the rest of us had better see about researching how to get round the age line in the meantime," said Ace.

It may be said that Rudatz was also considered suitable, and was equally cheered, being a popular boy with less of a firework fixation than his younger brother.

oOoOo

Once Durmstrang was settled down both from arriving for a new term and the desk serenade with fireworks to the music of the Muggle composer Handel, that was almost inevitable from the Musical Marauders, matters arising like a new History teacher, and the Triwizard might be addressed.

The school as a whole noted that Frau Weasley did not turn a hair at the musical desks and their fireworks and marked her down as not only Very English, but also Not Worth Ragging. Harmony had been approving of the level of musical ability managed by the Musical Marauders but did not count such a welcome to a new term as anything out of the ordinary. As the desks played an extract through once, and then subsided, Agata decided that it was not worth making a fuss about. Especially as Volodya Potishev was nodding sagely and seemed pleased with the results. The only dissatisfied staff member was Birgit Junger, who taught enchanting, and who was heard to mutter that if half the energy that was applied to such nonsense was applied to her classes, the little monkeys would be getting very high grades.

As the feral desk on fowl's legs was lurking near the musical desks to listen, she had the added indignity of being chased by it, until rescued by a very competent veronica by Orlando Carcano, using the fullness of his robe like a cape, that led it to stunning itself on a wall. The knowledgeable shouted 'Olé!'

However, Harmony was introduced, and gave a short and pithy address to the effect that those who did not study History were doomed to repeat it, which was why Gerhardt Grindelwald was so many kinds of a fool, and promised to say no more until lesson time. Thanks to the efforts of Lazlo Ijas, she was to find her pupils in the main well-prepared, and receptive to exploring further the parallels with muggle and goblin history too.

And Agata called for those who wished to sign up for the Triwizard to drop their names in a box outside her office door. She subsequently raised an eyebrow at some of those who had requested the chance to go to the Triwizard and called for her head boy. Alexand Amsel bowed and clicked his heels punctiliously and waited to be invited to sit. Agata tried to hide a sigh that he would never lounge on her desk or call her 'Agata' like Zlatko,

"I've had the list of those who want to go to the Triwizard, Alexand," she said.

"Yes, Frau Bacso?" said Alexand, politely.

"I was a little concerned by some of the names on it," she said.

"Oh, you are thinking of Harald Trollkettil? He has an exaggerated idea of his own ability," said Alexand.

"It crossed my mind, though his inclusion of himself is no big surprise," said Agata, dryly. "Hortensia Slukstrup is virtually a squib, Vladimir Chernykrov spends too much time wishing he hadn't been cursed into the inability to torture little ones to spend time on schoolwork, and Eve Cherrytree may be a hard worker, but she doesn't have any spark…"

"Oh Cherrytree is going along as resident diviner only, not caught up in the competition," said Alexand. "She spoke to the Marauders about it; she picked up a few things over the holidays and she reckons if she's on the spot she'll be able to protect our champion better."

"Ah," said Agata. "That explains a lot. Fraulein Cherrytree has come a long way."

"She's quite likeable now," said Alexand. "Hortensia, like Harald, has an exaggerated idea of her ability, so presumably she never reads her class position or report card, and Vladimir is hoping to be able to do a Harry Potter with a broom at some point to at least accrue some points somewhere. And I guess it's out of desperation to try to be somebody; he's a sad little git," he added.

Agata decided not to pull him up on the rather too prevalent English slang introduced by Jade. Somehow 'sad little git' suited Chernykrov rather well. The Marauders had tried to give him a chance when he had been in the lower school as fag to that horrid boy DeWitt; but he had not availed himself of their good graces. His loss. As for Hortensia, she was a little fool, but then she had fagged for Mereta Ulvang who had – what had Jade said? Known everything and known nothing. A good description. Maybe the fagging system had more profound effects than one might think; or maybe like merely found like. The younger Marauders seemed to have all in hand, ruthlessly sorting out the fags of those people they liked from each new intake. And that seemed to work well. They had even provided Eve Cherrytree with a fag from amongst what looked to be the latest layer of Marauders, who had already been heard discussing 'working for their remove'.

One put up with the nuisance level of Marauders for the rather splendid things that arose from them as well. And Agata promised herself a long talk with Eve Cherrytree about what she was picking up, as well as with Xanthe, Zyrillis and Yorick Thorvaldsen, who between them should be able to pick up a reasonable amount. Eve's results had shown that she was beginning to equal Zyrillis if not surpass him, which suggested that a latent ability treated almost as a soft option was being developed by being used for real, something that Salvia Pippin had agreed was quite possible.

After all, there were some late developers who were marked as muggles who suddenly developed spell casting abilities in their late teens; and one of them taught at Prince Peak, which did not employ freeloaders.

Agata was very interested in seeing how far Eve might go; and she suspected the Marauders were too.

oOo

The Marauders were interested. Yorick Thorwaldsen was all right, but now she had loosened up, Eve was potentially more convivial, and might be worth considering as Blooded in the future if she was to work with Wencelada. Zyrillis and Xanthe being already Blooded, as was Sofie Thorwaldsen who shard some of her brother's divinational abilities, only Eve was blindfolded for a Marauder meeting as Thorwald had been invited and told the Eulenspiegel twins that if they were still playing with that kid's game they were little fools to so waste their time.

Some people, without being unpleasant in themselves, could be a little trying.

Agata Bacso was also invited and duly blindfolded, and sighed gently at being told by her son that it was because of the fidelius charm. She suspected that he might well have been able to produce one for some time, although he was only in the fourth now.

"Spill, Cherrytree," said Xanthippe who was dealing with a slightly low twin as Xanthe had worked out what something Eve had said had probably meant.

"I had a couple of semi-waking dreams, when I was speculating on the Triwizard," said Eve. "One of them involved the French Sun King chap that people were talking about that I think had something to do with that new kid in the fourth; a bit obscure as these things are, but I saw a face and a castle I recognise from pictures as Beauxbatons, and the face was angry, and he was trying to cause some disruption."

"Oh-HO," said Xanthe.

"Severus mentioned that Achille tried to introduce his own choice for the Triwizard into Beauxbatons and that he and the others don't reckon he has a, er, cats chance in hell," said Agata – really the English idiom could be very colourful – "Since there are Marauders in Beauxbatons now and this fellow is a self-opinionated, er, jerk."

Xanthippe giggled.

"What about the Russians, Eve? The Marauders in Beauxbatons seem to have Achille's man tied down, and we can send on a warning to, er, Pharamond to look out."

"Lots of confusing images of hairy men with pieces of string," said Eve.

"I got something with snakes fleeing and joining up with knots of string," said Zyrillis.

"Well, we know that the Great Dragon slung out a heap of traitors from the Order of the Dragon," said Sigismund, "Oh hush you!" as several older Marauders made indignant noises that he knew things they did not. "We're in close contact with our Prince Peak counterparts and Zhenga Rebet rescued Mischa Wassisfaceof from a plot and he started cleaning house. So the Sons of Zwilnik – I don't think that's their name but it's what Zhenga's crew call them, it's a muggle literary reference they think is funny – have acquired some ritual sorcerers who might be nearly as good as lower school Marauders, why are you laughing at me, Mother?"

This revelation that the Head was Sigismund's mother was a shock to Eve, who did, however, know when to keep her mouth shut.

"The idea of you little horrors declaring the feared Russians as almost as competent as lower school Marauders," said Agata, who had choked as much as she was laughing.

"Well they don't have the flexibility, you see," said Sigismund. "They think you can only do ritual magic with prepared components and carefully written chants. They don't do chants on the fly."

"Probably none of them have received as many poetry impots as most marauders," said Agata, dryly.

"No, probably not," said Sigismund cheerfully. "It's as good a reason for getting into trouble as any. Though if there are any who are knot-workers, that's pattern magic that is, and it can be done on the fly too, I think. We need to find out more."

"We need more Russians who aren't stuck inside tunes like Volodya or a waste of space like Chernykrov," said Xanthe. "Perhaps we can steal one of Zhenga's snakes a little bit. Anything else?"

"Only what the first task is, and I don't think I'd be right to pass that on," said Eve.

"Good point," said Xanthe. "Though I don't know. Does it count as cheating or is it part of good teamwork that helps make an individual better?"

"We can decide that if our champion fails to work it out," said Agata.

"Highly unlikely," said Eve, dryly. "If anyone can find me anything on knot magic, I'll try and aim my thoughts at it, and do things like sit with a piece of string. You can't recognise things if you don't know what you're looking at."

The other diviners nodded sagely at this.

"I'll go into Berlin and see what I can find on the muggle Internet," volunteered Clovis Gierek. "They have a heap of stuff from old documents that have actually been forgotten by wizards; Lucius Malfoy is trying to catalogue it all to make sense of it. The even have treatises on sikidy and how to make Kolossoi dolls."

"The muggle desire to believe is immense," agreed Agata, who had been amazed by this.

"Well it's a good way to find the muggleborn who really can get magic to work," said Clovis. "Yes, Agata, I know, that's neither here nor there. However I'll feed knowledge to Eve, and hey, Eve, if you end up getting interested, those holy terrors in the fourth are studying pattern magic on their own."

"Yes, and if you'd please share with us, we'd be no end grateful," said Zoltan, "Even if you don't want to read our notes to learn."

"I'm not sure," said Eve. "I mean, I'd like to learn, but I've got a lot on my plate if I'm learning occlumensy, too. It's rather fun learning stuff when there seems a point to it though."

"That's why Marauders do mischief," said Zyrillis. "Because it sort of has a point to it, doing the library work, but it prepares them for real stuff like this."

"I understand that now. I was all kinds of fool," said Eve.

"Well, cheer up; you wouldn't be the first to suddenly find a desire to Maraud when you were older," said Wencelada. "Some people have even come in as grown-ups. And Agata hasn't decided yet if she wants to Maraud."

"Like Professor Dumbledore, I feel I should hold aloof," said Agata. "Severus was already Marauding when he took over the Prinzhorn. And David Fraser was Marauding long before he came as a child no older than Sigismund and co to show us how the English duel; dear me, you Musical Marauders are following in David Fraser's footsteps; perhaps one day I shall retire in favour of one of you."

Xanthippe fell about laughing.

"The looks on their faces are quite priceless; thanks Agata, for giving me the biggest laugh of the week!" she said.

"We will doubtless be ready to consider such things when we are elderly beings in the sixth," said Lindhard.

He cheerfully undid himself from being an orange rubber ball with tentacles that played the English song 'There's a Zombie in my Attic'.

And Eve wished rather wistfully that she had not been such a frightful little prig and had marauded with the others of her year. And then she might never have had to live down the period of spitefulness that she now acknowledged had stemmed from an unrealised jealousy.

But she could be useful; and she would be.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"When the new order is established, abominations like you will be made to live in concentration camps to work for the greater good," said Clamembaut to Philomène Fileur.

Philomène, strengthened by her blood bond, laughed.

"Your new order and your Sun King are too much of a laugh to manage anything beyond a little entertainment for the English," she said. "And by the way, you might want to go look in the mirror to see who is an abomination."

Philomène had been practising reinforcing wordless wandless spells with silent chanting, which acted as a focus or centring technique. Scorning to merely add words to the racist's forehead, she had gently laid on the semblance of a pair of buttocks, and every time he spoke, the anus between them vibrated.

Clarembaut came back from the mirror screeching in rage, which at least gave Philomène time to get a good shield up as he shouted

"CRUCIO!"

"Isn't that an expelling offence in decent schools?" said Philomène.

"It is," said Pharamond, who had turned up with fellow blooded Abelard Feufollet and Jean-Luc Bonheure in response to their little blood sibling's mild concern. "And don't even think of using the Killing Curse, arse-face, because she knows the mirror charm to reflect it right back at you."

"I will duel you! You who think yourself something special," declared Clarembaut.

Pharamond shrugged.

"As you will. Best to get all that silliness out of your system before the visitors arrive and wonder at such a rude fellow amongst our otherwise justly famous Gallic courtesy," he said. "I'll go get a teacher."

Pharamond ran into Homère Tisserand as the first teacher to be found, which did not please him much; though Homère enfolded him in a big, affectionate embrace, and kissed him on both cheeks in a way which was less threatening somehow than being gazed at soulfully and sighed over.

"Pharamond! My little cabbage! I have news to share, and only you and Darryl Zabini would appreciate it and rejoice for me!" he cried.

"Indeed, sir?" said Pharamond, curiosity winning over exasperation.

"Indeed, yes! I have met a wonderful lover, he is a quidditch player, in Marseilles, and we are to live together in the holidays, and I will see him sometimes at the weekends! He is my soul mate," added the History teacher.

"That's marvellous news!" said Pharamond, heartily, grateful to the said quidditch player, and truly glad for a teacher he was fond of, despite the crush the man had had on him. Pharamond was comfortable enough with himself not to be particularly worried, but it had been a little wearing. "I'll write to Darryl," he added. "We keep in touch; he and his wife are teaching in France and Papa is helping to fund them."

He did not add that he hoped the quidditch player was not trifling with M. Tisserand because it would be pretty awful for the poor man to find true love and then to be let down. The wizarding world did not thoroughly approve of homosexuality, largely on the grounds that wizards were small in numbers, and it reduced the number of live ones to breed rather than on the rather odd 'moral' grounds that muggles seemed to find for their prejudices. Pharamond made a silent promise to himself that if the quidditch player did hurt his teacher, said quidditch player would be playing with the word 'jilt' across his forehead.

"I need a referee sir," he said. "The new boy wishes to duel me."

"Oh, that one," said Homère with distaste. "He is of the same ilk as that idiot whom Darryl tricked into killing himself."

"Yes, sir," said Pharamond. "And we need to keep him realising that his beliefs are silly."

Homère brightened.

"Quite so!" he agreed. "How is he to find seconds?"

"The Première can draw lots, and the ones with the short straws have to represent him," said Pharamond.

News of the duel having spread, the Première and Terminale classes had already gathered, along with most of the Seconde, supporting Philomène. Even those who disapproved of part goblins in the school would, on the whole, support one of their own against an interloper. The only problem had been Antoinette Labellette, who by all accounts had been under compulsion by Achille, and was now under the protection of Marauders in Durmstrang. Philomène was sorry for anyone who had had their brain trampled by a creep and wrote to say she had put their encounters behind her, understanding that a compulsion had been involved, and wishing Antoinette well.

It helped, had she but known it, in bringing Antoinette to a greater acceptance that goblins could be civilised as not many pure-bred humans would have been that big.

Homère Tisserand meanwhile drew up a piste, and when there were no volunteers to second Clarembaut, he summoned straws and made the youngsters of the Première draw for the dubious privilege of that office. The losers were Marc Guiscard, and Erzuli Duschesne.

"I hope she doesn't summon a loa to get rid of Rénébreux," muttered Abelard to Jean-Luc. Jean-Luc could not control a snigger; though Erzuli's abortive attempts to try Voudon the previous year had been quite frightening, and without Darryl's knowledge of Comparative Magic might have been dangerous. It would be a while before poor Erzuli lived that down, although perhaps that was no bad thing, to remind her not to meddle in what she did not understand.

"I hope their blood status is not too dilute," said Clarembaut.

"It's as red as yours, and you might find out how red that is if you piss us off," said Marc Guiscard.

"Hear, hear," agreed Stephan Belette, which comment had most people staring, since Marc and Stephan were still inclined to take opposite stands on any matter, despite Darryl's efforts to resolve their foolish rivalries.

"MUST we act for him, sir?" whined Erzuli.

"Yes; you lost," said Homère, enjoying the way Clarembaut was getting angry that serving him was a matter of losing, instead of having all the class fawning over him as he plainly expected them to do.

In some years, he might have managed it. The current Première just happened to contain some of the most contrary pupils in the school who were not contrary in a constructive enough way to Maraud.

Duly on the piste, and as soon as Homère's wand dropped, Pharamond threw up a defensive shield and smiled gently as Clarembaut went for a stinging hex.

"How childish," he said, turning Clarembaut's nose into a honking daffodil.

"You dare speak of childish? You pretty boy who has succeeded only by selling yourself, whatever kind of blood taint you are, I will show you!" cried Clarembaut.

"Now those really are fighting words, and disrespectful of the faculty," said Pharamond, whose golden curls were a sore point with him. "I was just going to play, but if you are going to be rude about my school and its staff – oh, and by the way, I'm a pure-blood, which you, I believe, are not, because I checked your pedigree in the library – then I'm going to play serious and hurt you."

"Not as much as I hurt you! Crucio!" cried Clarembaut. Homère went to stop the fight but Pharamond waved a negating hand to him and shielded. Then he cycled Clarembaut through the most uncomfortable transfigurations he could think of, including owl and tuna fish – the tuna fish did not appreciate drowning on dry land – with excursions into woodlouse and cicada for fun, and finally back to human form where he cast _septum sectum_ to bloody the boy's nose.

"What do you know, it is red not blue," said Pharamond. Clarembaut knew enough to stop the bleeding, and gave Pharamond an evil look.

"I know the mirror spell too, you know," said Pharamond, gently.

"I will find a way to kill you," said Clarembaut.

"So much megalomania in such a little imbecile!" said Pharamond.

"It was you! It was you who put the words on my head!"

"Yes of course it was," said Pharamond. "Had you any desire to get on with this duel or were you about to resign before my infinite superiority?"

Clarembaut cast the cutting spell, aiming to slash across Pharamond's body, to deliberately do what Silvina had once done in a fit of inept anger. Pharamond held his shield firm, summoned popping pustules filled with maggots just for irritation's sake and started chanting.

"What, can't do spells properly?" jeered Clarembaut. "You can't manage anything that isn't half-baked."

The watchers were gasping, and Clarembaut was vaguely aware that his body seemed smaller somehow. Pharamond finished his chant.

"Trouble is, I know plenty of spells to kill but that's usually considered a little inappropriate for a schoolboy duel. However, I think this may inconvenience you."

Clarembaut glanced down at the long goblin fingers that were holding his wand, and lost it.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!" he cried.

Pharamond had been adding the diffusion grid as the end part of his chant, at least half expecting this. He did not really want to use the mirror charm to kill the boy.

He took something of a headache and shared it around; even the diffusion grid did not prevent a slight effect passing through unless it had been much stiffened.

Clarembaut stared, open mouthed, ashen. Or as ashen as the olive complexion of a French goblin could be.

"That IS enough!" declared Homère, dispelling the piste and putting bindings on Clarembaut. "This must go to the Head!"

"Poor git has never been taught self-control," said Pharamond. "Go easy on him, sir; he's a victim too, in his own way."

Homère snorted, and dragged the bound goblin to Olympe Maxime.

oOo

"Who is THIS?" asked Olympe.

"Clarembaut Bloodsnob Stuckup," said Homère.

"Homère, that is uncalled for," said Olympe. "Why is he a goblin?" she paused "Perhaps I should ask, rather, whom has he irritated?"

"He insisted on duelling Pharamond," said Homère, with unholy glee.

"And nobody told me?" said Olympe, reproachful. Homère shrugged.

"Well, it would have been nothing out of the ordinary to see Pharamond put him in his place, only this boy cast both the Cruciatus Curse, that Pharamond had no trouble dealing with, and then the killing curse."

Olympe paled.

"Homère…. Pharamond…." She swayed.

"He used the English defence and was sporting a zig-zag scar," said Homère. "I hope it fades; it does nothing for his looks."

"Do not frighten me like that and then get lost in trivialities about Pharamond's looks!" said Olympe, angrily.

"Sorry, Olympe. I cancelled the match then, of course, and brought THIS to you," said Homère.

"And quite right," said Olympe.

"It's not fair! He's not allowed to turn me into a goblin, I couldn't help losing my temper!" howled Clarembaut.

"Anyone can avoid using unforgivable curses," snapped Olympe "Ah, but you learn your values from Achille who thought it was all right to use the Cruciatus Curse on a little girl of thirteen," she added. "I think it's an improvement. Did he do that to your head too?"

"No, that was that little half-animal slut in the Seconde whom I was punishing when that boy...URK!"

Olympe was never going to be a world-class transfigurationist but she had pestered Darryl into teaching her the woodlouse curse.

Homère regarded the woodlouse with interest.

"When you negate it will he still be in goblin form or human?" he asked.

"I … well that depends if Pharamond chanted to change him," said Olympe.

"He did," said Homère. "How splendid. If Pharamond won't rescue him I suppose he's stuck like that, unless Desolina will undo the curse."

"As I'm about to expel him for his use of unforgivable curses, I don't see that it's any of her business," said Olympe, calmly, negating the woodlouse curse. "His father can pay someone to take it off; there are at least three curse-breakers in Europe capable of doing so, besides Desolina, and all of them donate such fees to schools educating goblins, so he can be proud to help in that effort." She absently dropped a saponification spell on the goblin Clarembaut, whose language was intemperate.

"Nasty little creature," said Homère.

"I am glad you were not swayed by his good looks," said Olympe.

"Not without danger pay," said Homère.

oOoOo

Clarembaut was over seventeen; not by much, but over seventeen he assuredly was. And rather than send for his father to take him away, Olympe decided instead to hand him over to the French _Surveillance de Loi_.

"But I did not know that you took full blood goblins, Madame," said the Enquêteur, scratching his head in bewilderment as he regarded Clarembaut. Clarembaut started swearing again and was the recipient of a double dose of saponification, from the wands of both Olympe and the Enquêteur.

"He's not a goblin by natural means," said Olympe. "That's just the sense of humour of the boy at whom he threw the killing curse."

"So this is a murder charge?" the Enquêteur blanched. This was not what one expected in a school, especially the prestigious Beauxbatons.

"No, no, the boy he duelled knows the English protective techniques, and this…this _saléte_ is lucky that he did not meet the mirror charm going the other way. The other boy was concerned about killing another youth, however misguided."

"Hmm," said the Enquêteur. "I need to talk to all who were involved, you understand."

"Of course," said Olympe, who hated the idea, but who would have hated the idea worse had not those involved been at least her more stable youths. Apart from Erzuli, but the girl would just have to live with it. Homère could, as a historian, be relied on to produce an accurate and fairly impartial account, however much he embroidered the tale with malicious enjoyment for the staffroom.

The Enquêteur duly pursued his enquiries, politely but firmly; the French law enforcers were virtually free from either corruption or fear of position, and were much respected by the Aurors, their English counterparts.

"It would be potentially a bias to this young man, one way or the other, if he were to stand trial as a goblin," he said sternly to Pharamond. "I trust you are able to reverse your transfiguration?"

"Oh, certainly, sir, if you wish it," said Pharamond. "He had been offensive about my girlfriend, who is part goblin, and I just wanted him to see that it's not essentially a whole lot different to being human."

"Ah; I see. A not immoderate response," said the Enquêteur, who might have argued not to take to law even an inforgivable curse if cast under the throes of _Crime Passionel_, a recognised mitigation under French law.

"I try not to be immoderate," said Pharamond. "I am considering careers in politics or teaching, and both require a level head and fast but moderate response to trouble."

"It comes into the needs of an Enquêteur too," said the Enquêteur.

"One must be ready to be such, when dealing with children, sometimes," laughed Pharamond. "Did Madame Maxime think that prosecuting him would be more salutary than just leaving him to stew for a year or so as a goblin? That had been my intent."

"I presume so; after all, she cannot permit anyone to use such curses on her pupils, it is a bad precedent, and not all are as talented as you, M'sieur."

Pharamond nodded. It made sense. Partly he was sorry for Clarembaut to be such an ass, but one could not permit intemperate little ticks to wander about willy-nilly. He chanted to restore the boy to his normal appearance.

He did not remove Philomène's curse. The Enquêteur raised an eyebrow.

"Your work also?"

"No, my girlfriend; she is in the Seconde, and he chose to insult her by calling her an abomination. I thought it cleverer than mere words."

"She is a talented girl."

"I think so," Pharamond was proud. "He arrived saying how wonderful he is and yet cannot deal with removing corridor curses. He is, of course, an agent of Le Roi Soleil, poor brat, and worth using legilimensy on him to see how much is his true belief and how much is compulsion. We've had pupils under compulsion from Achille before."

"Eh bien?" the Enquêteur was startled.

"Yes, a girl was expelled, and it was discovered subsequently that her nastiness stemmed from a deep compulsion. Our temporary chanting professor removed it, and the compulsions in the heads of the rest of her family, but she is happily settled in at Durmstrang now, so has not returned. I have friends there, you understand, who keep me informed," said Pharamond. "It was a habit of the English Voldemort too; some of these supremacists are such inadequate little ticks that they need compulsion to keep control of their followers."

"Phaugh, they are loathsome," said the Enquêteur. "I will take your recommendation on that. If he is acting through compulsion, then he needs medical intervention, not a prison sentence. Do you truly believe he is?"

Pharamond hesitated.

"As it happens, no," he said "But it would be unfair not to consider it, and I would not wish to be unfair. I think he is a spoilt brat who has never been brooked, has always been praised and told how clever he was, and believes that he has the right to do what he wants. And that is almost as much an abuse as if he was beaten every day and told he was worthless," he added.

"Not under the law, though; and I doubt he'd even recognise it as such," said the Enquêteur regarding Clarembaut with disgust. "Thank you for your co-operation, M. Duval; I hope we shall not need to call on you, as you are still a schoolboy, but if we do, I doubt it will come to trial before the end of the Triwizard. You are entering?"

"I am," said Pharamond.

"Then permit me to wish you the best of luck!"

"My thanks; and I hope that I am wrong and that Clarembaut needs more help than punishment," said Pharamond.

OoOoO

When Clarembaut's angry father turned up, he discovered that Beauxbatons employed half-troll security guards at need, and Olympe had floo'd to hire a couple just to prevent that very eventuality. She had hired them for the duration of the first task and could claim it was purely for the Triwizard. The security guards explained forcibly to M. Rénébreux that if their son had been arrested then perhaps he should be talking to the Enquêteurs, as Beauxbatons wanted nothing to do with criminal scum. The more articulate of the security guards enjoyed himself no end visibly despising a wealthy near-pure blooded wizard whom, he had heard, was a racist like his son. It was a sweet moment for someone of a race that was not accounted highly in Wizarding society, save as a weapon to aim.

It might be said that the same security guards were much moved, on the arrival of the visitors, that the English and German children at least mostly called them 'sir' and treated them with respect.

oOoOo

The schools arrived at Beauxbatons in their various conveyances; Hogwarts in David Fraser's Catalina, Durmstrang with its Pirate Ship, Prince Peak with its helicopter, a form of conveyance which also brought the contenders of the London Free School, courtesy of Lucius Malfoy and David Fraser, who loaned one of their taxi company's air taxis. Jade would have liked a rebuilt Tante Jü, a Junkers 57, because of the film from which the Schloss Adler was named, but settled for arriving by coach and flying horse, which scared her own fragile children less for the time being. Gennic was of course the driver. The Marauders and their intimates promptly mingled in such a way that apart from the uniforms it was impossible to tell who came from which school.

Hellibore's school also arrived conventionally by flying coach, though Biirta murmured to Gauda that she'd wager that they flew the whole way instead of using tack enchanted as a portkey, or even utilising nodal shift.

"Hellibore's boys have never even heard of nodal shift," said AHHa, who had overheard. "You guys enchanted tack as a portkey and arrived with your mounts still happy? I'm well impressed."

"It's a matter of training them," said Biirta.

"I'll tell Severus," said AHHa.

"He knows," said Silvina. "Lucius was giggling wildly about it."

"Lucius would," said Biirta, dryly.

"What's happened to the Russians, have they bottled out?" asked Zajala, coming over.

"They're planning on making an entrance," said Eve Cherrytree, then flushed as she came face to face with the Prince Peak contingent. "AHHa, you Marauders, I am sorry I was such a poor prune."

"'S okay, if you know you were, means you aren't now," said AHHa. "A pretty hard lesson."

Eve shrugged.

"It took quite well, anyhow," she said. "I'm the team diviner."

"Are you? Cool!" put in Yrdl. "Our top diviners are either staff or a lad in the second, so we've none along. We had a small disruption from Achille and a few attempts at kidnap from the Russians."

"Oh THAT's what the knot patterns, are, engulfing charms thrown over people!" said Eve. "I say, we need to spread this."

"I think it's about time we made you a Marauder," said Yrdl. "Then you'll understand even more about other sorts of people, and you can pulse people when ideas like that take you by the seat of the pants."

"Your English idiom is more English than most English," marvelled Eve.

Yrdl giggled.

"Thanks!" she said.

Meanwhile Flo had collected Riker and Austin from the London Free School, as they were associated by having a cousin who would be coming to the Prinzhorn the next year, and might as well meet some of the people who would be her prefects.

"My sister wants to come into the sixth," confessed Riker. "If she was only in age, I bet she'd be our best shot as a champion!"

"That's generous of you," said Flo. "Oh our current fifth are a decent bunch, it's a massive class though, sixteen."

"You reckon that a massive class?" said Riker. "We have twenty or thirty in most years now."

"Well, it's massive for Prince Peak," laughed Flo. "There's been a few new people join it over the years; Severus – he likes his sixth to be informal – tries to keep classes to no more than a dozen, but by the sixth it matters less anyway, as you are all divided up into smaller NEWT classes."

"Well there's only the three of us staying on for NEWT," said Riker. "There'd have been five if Storm and Zephyra hadn't gone to Hogwarts, but they look like they're accepted, which is good."

"As I understand it, Narcissa Malfoy roped them and their mothers into her society for marginalised women; their mothers are running a hostel," said Flo, who might not have been a visitor at Malfoy Manor, but she knew most of what was going on.

"They do move in exalted circles!" said Riker, looking pleased.

"They're talented, I believe," said Flo, "and that's what counts to Mr Malfoy and his ladies."

Storm and Zephyra meanwhile said hello in a dutiful sort of way to Jocelyne Todd, who was sneering at them and telling them that they had no hope of being champions of a big school like Hogwarts but that she at least would be competing.

Storm and Zephyra had to resist the urge to jinx her at this juncture.

oOoOo

There was a sudden thunderclap, and the sky glowed, and snow swirled from it, followed by the beating hooves of three perfectly matched white flying horses, harnessed troika-fashion, and drawing a massive sleigh, ringing with sleighbells.

"Knotwork gate," said Zyrillis.

"I wish I knew half of what you people were talking about," said Adam.

"Pattern magic; it's pretty new," said Zyrillis, "Well it is for a lot of us. Don't ask me; the experts in Durmstrang are only fourteen. And Eve, who's been buried in knot magic for the last week or so off some muggle magic device called the interwebs or something. They have enchanted spiders to run about in eclectic wires bringing information."

Adam opened his mouth to explain the Internet and decided that perhaps this was not the place or the time. However, if Marauders rated the Internet for research, maybe he had an advantage in catching up!

Severus was busy cuffing his team, who had started a slow hand clap.

"MANNERS you horrors, let us not be shown as _niculturniy_ in front of these Russians!" he urged them.

"Where's Lilith, sir?" asked Adam. "Did she not slide in with your people?"

Severus gave a short bark of laughter.

"Lilith, bless her, will turn up in her own sweet time. She's quite capable of just putting her name in, and then being there for the results. Don't worry about her! You're new to her group," he added kindly.

"Yes, and Sextus told me to watch her back," said Adam seriously.

Severus forebore to point out that if anyone needed protecting, Lilith was probably the last to be likely to be on that list. Having someone along to watch her back was probably a good idea at that, though Severus also suspected that Sextus would be managing to hover in feyspace too, having had the determination to learn how to use it.

The sleigh circled lazily, which was a waste of time so far as almost all those watching were concerned, since only a handful of those watching appreciated the skill of driving troika fashion, and the greater number of those were goblins. Caspar Jefferson, who drove, applauded politely, and Norman Tugwood joined him, having some hazy idea of the skill, and all of the Schloss Adler contingent, for whom horse handling was a semi-formal lesson. The comment the Russians heard, however, was from Beauxbatons' Hauvoise Nuitobscur, who said,

"Poor things, can they then afford only three horses?"

To have appreciation from goblins and no realisation of the message they brought from any of the major schools was gall and wormwood.

And Severus had to bite the insides of his cheeks to avoid laughing.

"I thought you were supposed to have one out in front and two behind the way Veta and Jo do it," said AHHa, frowning.

"That's unicorn, arguably more challenging than driving Troika, which is suited to driving in snow and on ice," said Severus, "As none of the horses foul the ground for any behind."

"Ah, all this snow that there is in the… South of France," said AHHa, with deep irony.

"Permit them their conceits as have Durmstrang with their silly ship," said Severus.

"Is it then that those schools who are self-confident do not need to show off?" asked Yrdl.

"Oh we all show off, my child," said Severus. "But some of us do it with understatement, and the Russians could have achieved that with a less showy gate and their magnificent steeds with a simple carriage. And before anyone has ANY ideas, it is forbidden to invite the Russians to go skiing and mount insubstantial mountains made of transfigured air."

"Oh bother! You take all the fun out of it, Sir," said Vya, giggling.

"Blitzen!" said Xanthe, suddenly, as the Russian team dismounted their sleigh. "Look what the cat dragged in with the Russians; that's where Aglaia Hallow ended up!"

"They're welcome to her," said Xanthippe.

"At least she never joined the ECC," said Xanthe, "but she DOES know our styles and some English methods."

"And any one of our juniors could jinx her into a ball," said Xanthippe.

This was not entirely true; Aglaia had opted for quantity over quality in the ZPs but she was not by any means an incompetent witch, and Arithmancy was her best subject, which was a basis for a lot of things, including Geomancy at which Aglaia did shine. She was also a competent potioneer and well versed in Ancient Runes, showing her to be capable with the subtle subjects. However, Xanthe decided not to argue the point. It would be interesting to see how the Russians treated Aglaia and how well they seemed to rate her chances of being chosen; because that would give a better idea, perhaps, of their expectations of academic attainment than even duelling with them had done. Some of the duellists had been fairly competent; but how good they were all round would be what was being tested here.

Even if one might be a little concerned that the first test, set by Hellibore's, might be a little pedestrian.

"Only eight, Sergei?" asked Agata Bacso, sweetly, as she counted the Russian contingent.

"I prefer quality over quantity," said Dolokhov.

"Then why did you bring one of my cast-offs?" asked Agata.

"This poor girl was beset by your too-ready love of blood-taints and softness on elves," sneered Dolokhov, "and has come to a school where we know how to deal with such trash."

"I'm sure she's as popular with her new class mates as with her old," said Agata, smiling brightly.

Aglaia glowered at her.

None of the young people with Dolokhov showed any friendship or affection for each other, which might just have been an attempt to show nothing that could be perceived as a weakness in front of the enemy; or it might just have been that they did not find each other convivial.

"Shall we repair within to the Great Hall and introduce ourselves?" suggested Madam Maxime, cheerfully. "Though many of these young people seem well-known to each other!"

"Weddings, symposiums and so on being what they are, Olympe," said David, genially. "Dear me, Sergei, your youngsters are quite on the fringe of society, aren't they? I don't believe even Miss Hallow's branch of her family mix with either Lucius Malfoy's parties, or Eduard Von Frettchen's."

"None of my students would wish to have anything to do with such decadent people," said Dolokhov.

"Decadent? Eduard will raise an eyebrow, but Lucius would doubtless agree quite cheerfully," said David.

"He would," said Jade. "Uncle Lucius is like that. David, I've just realised, we have two school heads – even though I'm junior head – who are past Triwizard winners, isn't that fun?"

"Oh absolutely," said David. "Severus has a habit of training Triwizard champions, after all, Harry and Lionel are from his handwork too."

Severus bowed austerely. It helped him hide the unholy grin at this gamesmanship.

"And I am happy to take on any more of your students who feel that they have not received an adequate education from you, Sergei, as two of your past pupils have leaped at the chance of studying in the decadent milieu of Prince Peak," he said. "They are so glad to have the chance to study first hand the parts of the Zilanti the Sons of Zwilnik – no, I mean the Sons of Zirnitra – so kindly donated last year. We've had sundry members of the Order of the Dragon apply for extra study too, but I was unable to find room for them this year," and he smiled brightly.

Dolokhov ground his teeth.

oOoOo

In the Great Hall, the schools sorted themselves out into school order rather than Marauder and friends order, and waited politely for Olympe to ask them to begin.

"I thought that the three original schools might introduce themselves first," said Olympe, "Followed by Prince Peak and Hellibore's, as being the next to join, then the Free London School, the Schloss Adler and the – ah, bah, I cannot pronounce all this Russian, the Russian Pure Blood School."

"An excellent idea. Alphabetically in each section?" asked David.

"Indeed," said Olympe.

oOo

Beauxbatons fielded twenty-four hopefuls, of whom Pharamond and his friends were three, the rivals Marc and Stephan in the year below them, Eduard Batonnoir, whose ears Darryl had fixed, and indeed the entire of those who had initially signed up for the chanting in those two years, including the two gigglers that Darryl had banned, and probably covering the brightest and best in Beauxbatons within age for being willing to try something new.

Agata introduced her eighteen, who were mostly gazing on Aglaia with amused contempt, including Eve, who was finding acting with solidarity could be most amusing.

David then introduced his contenders, relieved that he had no more than Olympe. The disgust with which the Russians gazed on the goblins was really quite amusing, and David had to poke Jabala gan Kordach quite hard when he noticed suspicious hand movements to cover a wordless spell. Jabala grinned at him unrepentantly. As David had introduced her as a daughter of a Council Member, which snobbery was the only one he permitted, the Russians were even more outraged. Each of the three main schools had its members clapped politely by all the others, with the exception of the Russians, some more than others. The Marauders raised quite a cheer for all other Marauders regardless of school, and Eve was given a good cheer from Prince Peak, which left her rather teary.

Next Hellibore produced his sixteen, who had renewed their acquaintance with the Prince Peak students rather more stiffly than the hugs exchanged between the Prince Peak students and those of various other schools; they looked very self-conscious. They were given a good clap nonetheless.

Prince Peak's contingent got a good yell too. There were Marauders all over.

Dolokhov sneered.

"All of my contenders are of pure blood," he said "So they are naturally superior and any one of them could make the rest of these… contenders… look foolish."

"Just like in the duelling contest," said Xanthippe, brightly.

Dolokhov glowered.

"I will introduce my superior students, despite rude interruption," he said. "The two boys first: Arkadi Volkov, who understands more of the Dark Arts than any of you have a hope of learning…." Here he had to pause as the Prince Peak and Durmstrang contingents burst out laughing, and the Schloss Adler and Hogwarts students sniggered, "….Fedya Charykrovy, who is generally talented at all spells: Avdotya Byerosya, who is skilled with Arithmancy and many other arts; Aglaia Hallow, also an Arithmancer, who also knows Geomancy; Ephresinya Kooveshina, who is both an arithmancer and skilled with ritual…." He paused again and scowled as Yrdl whispered to Crow that she wondered if she was as good as the Prince Peak third years, because if so she really was moderately competent. Dolokhov went on, louder, "Kladvia Mesyatseva, arithmancer; and Palagina Motyileka, also a skilled ritual witch."

Fortunately he did not know the English idiom as Eve murmured with glee that they and their ritual could all get knotted.

"I've only got three," said Neville. "My school is in the poorest part of London, and my kids get their abilities ground out of them by poverty. Having three contenders is marvellous news for me, and I'm dead proud of all of them to have risen above grinding poverty."

He introduced the three, and Hogwarts, Prince Peak, Schloss Adler and a substantial number of the Durmstrang contingent as well as luminaries of the Beauxbatons ECC gave them a good cheer.

"And we have sixteen, which seemed a reasonable number for our size," said Jade, and proceeded to introduce her contingent. Durmstrang gave a good cheer to another German school on principle, and Harald Trollkettil had both feet stood on hard by a twin on each side for starting to ask why they were cheering a school of blood taints and goblin trash.

And then Lilith appeared out of nowhere, walking down invisible steps from near the ceiling, winked at Adam, curtsied to Olympe most beautifully, and said,

"Lilith Snape, sole entrant from the school of Extrinsic Translocation by Jiggery Pokery."

Severus groaned at this piece of flippancy, and Olympe, who had known Lilith since she was a baby, gathered the little girl to her ample bosom for an outsize French embrace.

And now all were gathered.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

All the Marauders knew Lilith of course, although the French ones knew her less well, and through having been involved in the plans to provide a false 'Book of Thoth', or Djehuti as Lilith insisted on calling him, more accurately than the Greek alteration of his name.

"Right is Right," said Lilith, sounding very much like both her mother and her oldest sister.

"We have had some trouble from Achille," said Pharamond, and quickly outlined the short tenure of Clarembaut at the school.

"I'd better go stick my eyes down his head," said Lilith, and stepped into nowhere.

"How DOES she do that?" demanded Pharamond.

"Feyspace," said Biirta and Silvina simultaneously.

"It has to do with being Malfoy and hence part fey," said Biirta, who was at home enough with Pharamond, who had visited Lucius with his father. "Has your small sibling arrived yet?"

"No, but I'm expecting an owl with news any time soon," said Pharamond. "Zena is delighted, and Maman is like a mother hen with her. She's taking her tone from Narcissa."

"I'm glad it's all amicable," said Biirta. Lucius had not, of course, turned a hair when M. Duval had turned up with both his wife and his pregnant goblin mistress, Zena. And Suzanne Duval had plainly been taking notes about what a good relationship Lucius' women had. Biirta hoped that Pharamond would say nothing of any surmise he had made about her own relationship with Lucius; it was too early to want to share too widely. Pharamond merely smiled at her and pulsed her. He would be discreet.

"When Lilith comes back, we want to blood in Eve Cherrytree," said Zyrillis baldly. "She done good, and having her bloodjoined to all the likely champions is going to help her do the divination shit against the Russians. Other than that it's going to be knotwork and engulfing charms and kidnap."

"I'm the only blooded of our lot, and there's at least one other boy who's cleverer than me," said Biirta.

"Meh, but clever isn't everything," said Zajala.

"Law Visick told us before we all left to keep cutting charms in our heads at all times," said Yrdl. "That'd explain a lot."

"And cutting charms are about the only fast defense against a rope gate," said Lilith, reappearing suddenly. "What, don't any of you oiks study comparative magic?"

"It's a newish thing on the curriculum as it happens, as you well know, Shortstuff," said U-may Naga. "Tickle her for me, Jingjie."

"Tickle her yourself," said Jingjie. "She's harder than I am."

"Can we have Lilith tickled on her own time, please? said Zajala. "I, for one, am interested to know how far she got in sticking her eyes down this Clavichord's neck."

"Clarembaut," said Pharamond.

"I dunno, Clavichord suits him rather well," said Lilith, "A rather jangling sort of noise it makes and definitely, but definitely out of date."

"Well what did he jangle?" asked Zajala.

"Less than I might have hoped, actually, Oh Best Beloved," said Lilith, making a face.

"Crumbs, that means she's going to be long winded about how much he didn't know," said Nathan, pulling a face. "When she pulls Kipling out of the bag…." He broke off to retrieve his ears which were performing a sudden _pas de deux_ in front of him.

"I only have to say things twice to penetrate the turgid jungle of people whose brains run like the great grey-green, greasy Limpopo river, all set about by fever trees," said Lilith.

"You're going the right way about having as much of a nose job as Elephant's child," said Silvina. "Spill, our brat."

"Oh, all right," said Lilith. "He was supposed to be checking out the opposition and to be the one chosen – isn't it tragic that the little tick actually thinks still that this arrest was to stop him being chosen because obviously he must do as he pleased to lesser beings?" she added.

"In his dreams," said Pharamond.

"Sadly, yes, in his dreams he is already Triwizard champion, and he was going to kill or maim anyone who might have the slimmest of chances of getting in," said Lilith. "Achille didn't need a compulsion; he's already got so many erumpants loose in his top paddock that he's several bangs short of a pack of exploding snap cards."

"You mean he's not stable? Will that mean medical treatment not prison? I felt sorry for him," said Pharamond.

"Which is a measure of you as a man," said Lilith. "I would suspect so. This, er, reverse has tipped him over. He was already megalomaniac and ready to go along with Achille until the time came to take his own rightful place as the Sun King. Achille picked a nutter, because only a nutter was prepared to actually kill other school children. Including any goblin or part goblin," she added. Pharamond flushed.

"Feeling somewhat less sorry for him now," he said.

"Well, he never had a chance at your Philomène," said Lilith kindly. "As for any other plans Achille might have, if he has any, Clavichord has no idea. Only his part was important."

"It's what you get for too much concentration on the Dark Arts as an end in themselves," said Zyrillis. "Jade taught us that."

"And they never learn," sighed Severus. "Well, people, if you'd care to trot Eve up to wherever Pharamond designates as a marauder room – this box room is suitable? Good – when everyone is out of bed sticking their names in the Goblet, we'll bring her in. I'll provide the cocoa, the rest of you can pool sweets and cakes."

oOoOo

Eve's heart hammered. It must be the excitement of half-hoping her name would be the one chosen by the Goblet, she thought firmly. She told herself that it was foolish to be so excited over being invited into what was, when all was said and done, a kid's gang, whatever their aspirations; but she was excited anyway, and she knew somehow that this meant more, far more, than the Triwizard.

And in the room to which they took her was the stern visage of Professor Snape; and Eve quailed. Had he found out and come to stop this?

And then he was smiling at her, reassuringly.

"We retired Marauders get to join in special ceremonies too, you know, Eve," he said, gently. Eve was not accustomed to his gentle tones. She had been more inclined to earn his ire. And then he held up his right hand. "Repeat after me, I solemnly swear I am up to no good."

Eve gulped. Was this a joke? Nobody was laughing, they all looked at her expectantly, including the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"I solemnly swear I am up to no good," she said, hastily.

"Really, Severus, what are you like?" demanded David Fraser. "The poor kid looks as though she can't ever imagine you being up to no good."

"The phrase as a password was invented by MY age group of Marauders, the first ever, and I don't see why I shouldn't use it in memory of Prongs," said Severus, austerely. "And yes, we were a feckless bunch of brats who probably fulfilled the worst of Eve's initial ideas about Marauders; time, and the need to fight Voldemort, made the institution a bit more serious than just making sure a werewolf kid – a friend of mine, Eve – had a good time. And we loused up royally, the lot of us, one way or another, except Remus himself, so I am particularly pleased to welcome in Eve, who has made a longer journey than some, but not with as many forays into darkness as others. Welcome, Eve, get out your silver knife, we slit palms on the stroke of midnight."

Everyone else was drawing their silver knives out, and then they were slitting palms, and mixing and mingling, drawing several groups together as well as bringing Eve in.

"Oh!" said Eve. Then her voice became harsh and she intoned, "_The impious animals who sought to make fools of the pure will be enslaved and punished at the hour of the revelation of the chosen._"

She sat down hard and shook her head.

"Crumbs, Eve, mate, did you just manage an honest-to-goodness vision?" said Crow.

"I don't know. I feel giddy," said Eve.

"I HATE true seeing," said Severus. "Poor Eve, with all your concentration on Divining, and the blood link to several seers, I'm afraid you just popped out all your latent powers in one go."

"Not as blatant a latent a popping out as that Hauvoise Nuitobscur bint with her shirt open, mooing at Fido," giggled U-may.

David leaned over to give her a two fingered cuff.

"She was rather, though," said Pharamond. "She giggled at Darryl too. That's clear enough on top of the other things though, isn't it?"

"What did I say?" demanded Eve.

"Let me show you how to self-legilimens it," said Severus. "Save an awful lot of hassle in the long term, not to mention cutting down on the number of those silly globes in the Department of Mysteries."

Isambard chuckled.

"Hey, anyone up for a visit to the Department of Mysteries with a few of Comrade Kalashnikov's babies to break them all?" he said.

"Despite all I've heard about you, I actually almost approve that idea," said Severus.

"Oy, Severus, I have to be his Headmaster for the foreseeable future, stop corrupting – or rather stop adding to his well-developed corruption," said David.

Eve was amazed that grown ups and teachers could be human; but then Professor Snape – Severus – was staring into her eyes, leading her to look at what she had said, locked into a kind of bubble inside herself.

"OH!" she said. "They are going to wait until all are announced and then seize the entire Prince Peak team, since they were humiliated in the duel; and they will come out of gates that Dholokhov is going to set up in the Great Hall. We could disrupt it entirely if we trash the gates before they even arrive."

"I HATE prophesies," said Severus, "because one is then tempted to do things like that – and tactically it's actually quite brilliant Eve – and then move into paths of doubt and uncertainty."

"Personally I prefer to be ready to be forewarned to meet trouble halfway, when it comes," said Jade. "As Dad says, Eve, tactically it's very sound, but is it strategically good? I can think of a few reasons why it might not be."

"It warns them we knew ahead of time," said Zyrillis, "And that means they have a better idea of our capabilites."

"It also means that we've wasted Eve having to have a vision – poor Eve!" said Lilith, "because then we move from clearly-defined foreknowledge of doubt and uncertainty into the muddy pools of wild conjecture and possibly worse shit happening."

"I love the way she moves from pure Dumbledore back to thirteen-year-old," murmured Severus to nobody in particular.

"Wouldn't the obvious thing to do be to have enchanted knives as well as cutting spells and make sure that every Prince Peak contender has at least two other people standing by to keep them from from being snatched, and help them cut these rope engulfing collars?" volunteered Adam.

"Ah, the voice of sense," said Severus. "I like it. We must make sure we get these Russians into the habit of seeing us all mingle. And we assign two other kids to each. If they go after me, I'll take care of myself. If need be, I can come back via the _evansco_ place. I've been there once, and I know the tricks; confunding the fungus into not thinking you tasty."

"It's interesting when it stops being scary," said Lilith, who had got to the point where she could look upon the previous year's terror with academic interest. "That's an interesting way to escape, Dad. And how like you to think of it!"

"Dad just eats danger for breakfast," laughed Jade.

"Not quite," said Severus. "Mind, since I've been here, I've discovered I've annoyed a few people who are capable of enough ritual to attempt sendings against me, which of course bounce off the sending exclusion I put up at the Prinzhorn last year – it's one way only – when I realised we might be dealing with ritual wizards. Several people have tried a number of ways to irritate me. I expect they already found out their efforts bounce when I'm at home."

"What did you do to them?" asked Jade, with interest.

Severus shrugged.

"Stuck up a mirror on their efforts in most cases," he said. "That way, what they were prepared to send, they got. The American who was exercised enough to try to use a version of the Imperious Curse to enslave me should have just about finished handing out socks to all his slaves and giving them their last orders to go to Malfoy Manor. I thought that was more amusing than turning him into a fluffy white rabbit."

"Infinitely," agreed Jade.

"Well, when the Russians try this kidnapping on, I shall not restrain Krait from doing what she wanted to do to Lord Flexi Jerkov, also known as Pyotr Tirlichov, when he frightened a little girl into spying on us," said Severus.

"What did Mum want to do?" asked Jade, interested.

"It'll be creative," chuckled David.

"She was going to turn him into a Meerkat like Alexandr on the muggle advertisments," said Severus. He made a noise like the said Meerkat "Simples" he added, in Alexandr's tones.

Those who were aware of muggle adverts on TV laughed; the rest looked blank. Severus sighed.

"Well, let's just say it's a matter that makes the Assimilative Correlation by rather dodgy association work for Krait," he said.

"Excuse me, Severus, she is capable of a ritual sending of that capacity on her own?" asked Xanthe, impressed.

"Only with transfiguration and only because indignation on the behalf of others will fuel it; but essentially, yes, she IS that powerful," said Severus. "Voldemort's daughter doesn't, on the whole, consider it very nice to draw attention to her raw power, and ability to do things power alone can't do because she thinks outside the box; but she's seen him flootalking and knows his patterns, though I suspect she may want to floo him to make it totally certain."

"WELL!" said Xanthe. "May I say, we're all impressed."

"It's not very difficult," said Lilith, critically. "If she knows his patterns, she has only to match the patterns of the sending to mesh with his, like an antibody meshing with a bacterium, you know."

"When you start mixing Muggle science with magic, my brain switches off," groaned Nathan.

"Actually, I get it," said David, sounding surprised. "I bet Damian would too; you need to talk to him about it, Lilith."

"Oh, Faunus is streets ahead of anyone when it comes to mixing and matching muggle biology with magic," said Lilith. "But I will mention it. It could mean the difference between getting scorched or otherwise in delivering a sleeping charm to a dragon in need of surgery by sending direct to the sleep centre and… shutting up," she said, as everyone groaned.

"I think it's interesting, but way out of my league," said Adam.

"Oh, I'll see if you can't get a holiday assignment with Uncle Vladimir," said Lilith. "He's a muggle vet, you know, and has done tons for the wizarding world's understanding of heritance. Faunus, Damian that is, is his son."

"Thanks!" said Adam, who liked animals and rather liked the idea of working with a vet who could do magic, and who might be a bit better educated than Hagrid and a bit less... Wizarding world… than Madam Grubbly-Plank.

oOoOo

"I say, Sardo, aren't you some kind of relative of Mona, who was at school with us?" asked Crow. "We ragged her something rotten when she was a sixth former, until we found out about her dippy neighbour, because she was a bit humourless. With good reason! Once we understood that, we were able to cut her some slack."

"Are you the lot who went and practical-joked that wretched neighbour of hers?" asked Sardo.

"Yes, we took turns to visit her," said BaHH. "Great fun. Elladora Guffy, or whatever the old moo's name was, didn't like sauce for the gander."

"I bet," said Sardo. "I wish she'd let me help, but I guess she didn't think of it."

"Why on earth didn't you come to Prince Peak?" asked Yrdl. "After all, we were taking boys by the time you started school."

"My parents decided it was too risky sending me to a school with an untried headmaster who was doing something as insane as going co-educational with a lousy exam rate to start off with, and likely to do poorly for at least a decade," said Sardo, pulling a face. "And of course, it was the wrong decision, and Snape turned out to be rather more special than anyone might have guessed."

"He had been Dumbledore's first choice of successor, actually," said BaHH, coolly, who had guessed as much. "He was glad to see Severus establish his own school. And de-Cackle it, which is where the problem lay in its academic achievements. We're much happier there than studying under grandfather."

It might not do any harm to remind Sardo that Engelbert Hellibore was his grandfather after all.

Sardo shrugged.

"Well, maybe my parents will transfer the younger ones," he said "they thought they'd like to be with me, but they came home last Yule so full of what your guys were studying. Only the kids said it would be disloyal to change schools when I was in with a shout for the Triwizard."

"They'll do," said BaHH. "Cool kids! They were the ones who were ruthlessly cleaned and dried so as not to upset Miss Mimsy."

"Yes, and don't call her that in front of any of the kids or they'll copy it," said Sardo, "and that would go down like a broomstick with a sinking charm."

"I never caught her name," shrugged BaHH.

"Nor me, but Miss Mimsy doesn't half suit," said Crow. "Honestly, are you in with a shout?"

"I think so," said Sardo. "Ulysses Hobday doesn't half fancy himself, and I think he's my closest rival, but he's not flexible."

"Flexible and adaptable will do it," said BaHH. "We think it's between my older brother and Crow's girlfriend, Yrdl."

"A goblin?" Sardo looked at her, startled. "There's never been a goblin contender before."

"Then it's about time there was," said Yrdl.

"Yrdl is clever and adaptive, and flexible, and I think she's got a better chance than AHHa, actually," said Crow,

"Weird nicknames you people have," said Sardo.

"Well who'd want to be known as Angel, Bellamy and Chrysander like me and my brothers?" said BaHH. "And Crow here lives under the name of Engelram for best. You can see why he wanted a change."

"No worse than Sardo," said Sardo.

"MUCH worse than Sardo," said Crow, firmly.

oOoOo

"Zajala," said Nigel Baddock, "can I talk to you?"

"I thought you were," said Zajala.

Nigel flushed.

"Snide Malfoy git," he said.

"Yeah, but I have my bad points," quipped Zajala. "You mean you want to talk seriously, muffliatus, disrupted air to prevent lip reading and me to actually listen and all?"

"More or less," said Nigel. "A walk in the grounds would do fine."

"Ok," said Zajala. "And they've got a smashing rose arbour."

"No scent to them, though," said Nigel, critically."

"No, I suppose they're afraid the precious loveys might sneeze," said Zajala. "But the layout is good."

"Mr Malfoy would probably like a sketch," said Nigel, critically. "And now we're out here, I am getting tongue-tied apart from blethering about roses."

"I'm not about to get antsy if you get your tongue tangled," said Zajala. "We're good enough friends, now, aren't we?"

Nigel and his little sister Clymene had spent a substantial part of as many holidays as could be managed at Malfoy Manor; the atmosphere was more convivial than at home.

"Well, that's the rub," said Nigel. "Because I'd rather like to be more than friends, and it seems to me to be important to tell you before the goblet spews out its names, because if you are, you might wonder if I was angling for the school heroine, and if you aren't, you might wonder if I was doing the sympathy thing, especially if, long shot as it is, it was me."

"It's not that long a shot," said Zajala. "It's between you, me, Jingjie and Nathan if you ask me. And I wouldn't rule out the Slug, either," she said, referring to the affectionately bestowed nickname of Kevin Slugworthy.

"Well, anyone who's along is someone the Hat thought was a long shot, I suppose, or perhaps it chose people who'd be good supporters and not throw a hissy fit," said Nigel, with some insight. "Are you avoiding the question tactfully? I'd rather you were blunt."

"I wasn't ignoring the question, I just got sidetracked," said Zajala, "because you were doing yourself down, and I didn't like that. And I guess if I don't like you doing yourself down, that means I'm looking at being more than a little fond of you. I hadn't thought about it, you see."

"But you will?"

"I am, you prune," said Zajala. "I think I might let you snog me, but only so long as you're careful of the thorns in here."

"There's a fairly comfy looking bench a little further along," said Nigel, shyly taking her hand.

Zajala permitted herself to be led to the bench and put up her face for kisses.

This led to a modicum of virginal awkwardness on the part of two people who had never kissed before and with a lot of giggling, finally a comfortable position was achieved whereby they might enjoy the experiment a little more.

"That was rather nice," said Zajala, in an unwontedly shy voice.

"I thought it was heaven," said Nigel.

"Oh Nigel! Really? How nice!" said Zajala, flushing. "I know you wouldn't have had any ulterior motive for asking me, whoever was chosen, but I can see some cats might say you had, if it is me."

"I really want to think about marrying you, Zajala," said Nigel, "And it's not because you're a Malfoy, it's because you're kind and bright and fun to be with and you understand that shit happens sometimes."

"I guess I understand," said Zajala. "It's a bit sudden; but I'll be your girl and see how the idea grows on me, because I certainly don't feel an immediate urge to say 'no'. I want to get this over with, too."

Nigel nodded.

"One thing at a time," he said. "I can understand that."

"Of course if neither of us are the champion, we can retire out here to snog while the poor sap who is gets toasted, bounced about and discomnockerated," said Zajala with a giggle.

"Don't you want to be?"

"Yes; but it's going to have its down-sides if I am, because it will be tough. Or there's no point in it," said Zajala. "I REALLY want to be the champion, Nigel, for Gorbrin; because he did such a lot for us before dad adopted us, and then he showed the world what a first rate goblin can do at school. And he was the wrong age, and though I'm not crusading like him and some of my sisters, I want to at least represent Hogwarts for HIM."

"I wish I felt like that about my brothers," said Nigel, wistfully.

"That damned problem in your head," said Zajala. "It made them unloveable and not worth giving hero worship to; but you know, Clymene is so proud of you being here."

"She is?" Nigel was surprised.

"Well she was boasting that her brother was one of those chosen by the hat to go," said Zajala. "I had to sit on Walter Trimmer before he did anything rash to her, because he so would have regretted being jinxed by her bunch of Marauders. Sometimes being Head of House means you have to be compassionate towards the most awful ticks, and they don't come a lot more tickish than Trimmer."

"He's a gadfly," said Nigel.

"So's Isambard Cooper; but you can't mind Isambard," said Zajala. "He isn't nastily malicious, only in the same way dad is. He pokes with the sheer delight of seeing what happens. Trimmer does it on purpose solely to upset people. Especially people he perceives as vulnerable."

"I know. I used to do that too, because it made me feel one up," said Nigel.

"Yeah, but there's a difference… I don't know quite how to put it… you wanted to feel one up, but you only knew it was wrong because it was something you were told was wrong, and he knows why, where you didn't," said Zajala. "Oh bother, there's a sweetly melodious bell, to call us to something. What's the point of sweetly melodious bells? Only nicely-behaved people like us obey them, whereas you can't ignore the clamour of the gongs at Hogwarts."

"They only have sweet, nicely-behaved people to call," said Nigel. "Any badness is hidden under powder-blue silk and a neatly pinned-on smile."

"You got their number, Nigel, old thing," laughed Zajala.

oOoOo

Three days were permitted for inserting the name into the Goblet of Fire, and it may be said that after blooding with Eve, Lilith went back to Hogwarts until the names were to be announced as she had an interesting little piece of Divination to wrestle with for the OWL she was taking this year, that might mesh with the findings of everyone else if she cross-referenced it with Comparative Magic.

David only hoped that she would not drive his Ellie too spare in Comparative Magic with questions that were likely to wander outside of NEWT in ways hitherto unimagined, as the little girl was also taking OWL in that subject, and sundry others.

As it happened, Lilith turned up noisily shouting, "EUREKA" as she tumbled into the room set aside as the Hogwarts common room.

"For an old man leaping out of his bath, you look remarkably young, female and dry," said Adam, who felt that it behoved him to try to make Lilith feel at home with snideries like Sextus.

Lilith stuck a tongue out at him.

"I need a Marauder Meeting and all the Prince Peak people NOW," she said, "And every permanent marker we can muster."

The Hogwarts Marauders shrugged and started rummaging their kit for such markers, those who were likely to have them, as did Damian Malfoy, who managed to muster a whole rainbow of colours.

"Cheers, Faunus, I hoped you might have assembled enough to do Malfoy lines," said Lilith.

The Marauders drifted into the cramped quarters of the accustomed boxroom.

"What have you for us, Lilith?" asked Severus, crisply. Lilith responded well to that sort of tone, and was less likely to wander off in long, and only marginally relevant, side passages of thought.

"Well it wasn't divination, but there's some use of the Elder Futhark runes in Divination, and when I picked up the cards, it was staring me in the face – fairly literally," said Lilith.

"OH!" said Xanthe and Xanthippe in unison.

"Raidho in merkstave to hold people from being readily transported," said Biirta. "And if I may borrow a pen, I'll do all our goblins and part-goblins too, just in case they decide to go after them as well as the Prince Peak people."

"Oh you were listening between snogging Uncle Lucius, were you?" said Lilith.

Biirta burned red and several people cuffed Lilith with two fingers.

"Well it is rather an open secret that most of us picked up on, you know," said Jingjie. "We were just too adult and tactful to comment on it."

This comment did more to chasten Lilith than any cuff or rebuke and she went red.

"I thought everyone knew," she said.

"Apparently they do, Lils," said Biirta, "Well, it's in the open, and can't be put back, and if anyone wants to make anything of it, let's have that made clear now."

"Crumbs, Bii, why would anyone want to?" said AHHa. "And we're wasting time getting runes scrawled on us, so let's get on with it!"

"I didn't get any sense of them attacking Prince Peak or Durmstrang, did any of you?" Eve looked at Zyrillis and Xanthe.

"I've had no warnings of such from my people," said Severus, "I suspect they were going to use their hostages to force capitulation. We do, however, need, er, constant vigilance."

"And I've pulsed Alastor, Harry and Draco to be on overwatch with Albert on his finder's globe," said David. "Sometimes a little creative paranoia is a handy thing."

Severus nodded.

Runes were hastily drawn by those who knew them well enough to get them exactly right, and Biirta told Ktell, Kole, Gauda and Ervig to just shut up and put up and hope that they didn't need a protective sigil.

"Berthold didn't say anything," said Gauda.

"No, but sometimes people who are thwarted come up with contingency plans that can even fox a true seer; and he IS a very little boy," said Biirta.

Gauda shrugged, her nature being to err on the side of caution, and Kole nodded approval over the choice of rune.

And then it was time to assemble in the Great Hall for the drawing of the names.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Back in the various schools, all the children were avidly watching the results of who was to be drawn. Lucius had loaned a huge sports screen to the Umbrous Lane school, which they had mounted outside the school for the parents and residents to watch on, too. That was one piece of kit that would not be vandalised, largely because the other residents were likely to maim anyone who tried.

"Here, Prof, what chance have our kids got, for real?" asked Riker's father of Abraxus Malfoy.

"Of winning? Bugger all," said Abraxus, who was quite happy to modify his language for his audience. "Of placing in one or more tasks? Depends on the task, and on the quality of the opposition, but I wouldn't rule out our champion making a reasonable stab at it, and looking better than some of the posh kids."

"You're a posh kid, Prof," said Mr Skorg.

"Yeah, but I never managed to fool the age line," said Abraxus. "Hawk and I did our best, but Professor Dumbledore was wise to all our tricks. There's a few talented kids nowadays whom I reckon will manage, like my little cousin Lilith, but every generation learns from the last. Riker's kids now…"

"Yeah, or maybe some of my younger children," said Mr Skorg. "Prof, that Amarantha Keil, who's marrying my cousin, she offered to pay for my Ivy to go to Prince Peak for the sixth, and the younger ones. D'you think I should take her up on it?"

"By all means," said Abraxus. "There's nobody like Professor Snape for getting the best out of a kid with talent, and your kids are as bright as buttons. I'll be sorry to lose them, but for their sake, I would recommend it. This school is intended to give a rudimentary education to those who can't afford to pay for it, and to enable them to better themselves with as many qualifications as they can handle. It's not doing the best it can for kids like yours who can handle more, because with the best will in the world, we can't devote the same time as Severus – Professor Snape – does, with his small classes, and rather rarefied academic atmosphere. I did offer to sponsor Riker to Hogwarts."

"It sort of seemed disloyal," said Mr Shorg. "Besides, he did want to have a real chance at representing you as you've done so much for him."

"That's a good kid you have there," said Abraxus. "Dammit man, shut up or my eyeballs will get hot and start sweating!"

Mr Shorg laughed.

"D'you reckon he'll be it?" he asked.

Abraxus did a quick check around, saw Jocelyne's mother, and cast a surreptitious _muffliatus_ spell.

"Between you, me, and the gatepost, he's the only one; his cousin is good on paper but he hasn't the drive."

"And that stuck up little moo what thinks a lot of herself, don't have a prayer," said Mr Shorg in satisfaction.

"You might say so; I couldn't possibly comment," said Abraxus.

oOo

In Hogwarts, the Great Hall was full.

"Do you think Adam will be chosen?" asked Ace, anxiously. Harry put an arm round her.

"Sorry, Ace, no," he said. "If he'd been in Hogwarts a couple of years, and that idiot father of yours hadn't been so daft about letting him come here to school, then I'd say he might have been in with a shout; but we've got some jolly good sixth formers. It's a victory that the Sorting Hat thought it worth sending him at all."

Hazel Spikenard stood up and intoned,

"_Behold, the Masters of the Knots prepare to entangle their rightful prey!"_

"Oh sit down Spikenard, the rest of us had dreams about that ages ago and passed it on to the Headmaster," said Julian Bode. This was pure cheek, since Julian was only in the fifth, but he had dragged his little sister, now in the second, in Ravenclaw, to see David Fraser when she screamed out that knots would ensnare people. His own efforts, with the encouragement of Madam Spikenard, had produced a little more, which had added to the sum total of what had been surmised. Julian hated having visions and had no patience with Hazel enjoying hers.

Hazel looked scared and confused, and her grandmother rose to take her by the hand and firmly lead her away.

"I had a VISION," said Hazel.

"Yes, dear, but don't worry about it," said Madam Rosemary Spikenard, "other, more competent, Diviners extracted all they needed from more certain methods in time to do something about it. You'd better lie down."

"I want to see who's chosen," said Hazel, sulkily.

"And I thought your little turns disturbed you too much to continue with anything else?" said Madam Spikenard.

Hazel looked hunted. If she watched what was going on, she wouldn't be able to beg off lessons for having a vision. But she wanted to know what was going to happen!

Rosemary Spikenard relented.

"You may watch until it's over, and then you report directly to the hospital wing," she said.

"Yes, Grandmother," said Hazel, meekly.

oOo

"I should think that the Russians will be trying something on while this is going on, if all the calculations of all the seers work out," said Salvia Pippin.

"Well, I'm sure that the Marauders have it well in hand," said Attila. "And as we've a few more wards up between us, they won't find invading Durmstrang any kind of pushover. I'm glad the kids came up with setting up view-o-sneaks on the perimeters though, and are taking turns to man them. Sophisticated stuff, ritually joining them to Wizarding Wireless Vision globes for better views."

"Based on muggle security devices," said Harmony, who knew more about muggles than anyone in Durmstrang.

"Is that Hallow with the Russians?" demanded Agalisse Schreiber.

"Ye gods, yes," said Attila. "Well if she wanted an education she had to go somewhere; and actually, if you think about it, she's got a better chance than a lot from the Cheesy-wotsitcalled school, because we do more range of subjects here."

"Yes, we have thirteen serious subjects to their nine," said Panayot Panov. "It's the Cheesteeykrovy Shkola Koldoovstvoy."

"Guzundheit," said Attila with heavy irony.

"As Nefrita used to say, Right is Right; we want to abuse them accurately," said Panayot. "Dear me, WHAT are the Musical Marauders up to?"

Cacilia giggled.

"Pulling off a ritual sending to make Dolokhov's farts glow, by the look of it," she said. "I love Marauders."

"There are times when even I can feel that they do not waste their time," said Birgit Junger, "Ritual! And babes of the fourth! That's beyond ME!"

The rest of the staff forbore to point out that this was probably because Frau Junger was narrow enough to be excellent at her own subject, enchanting, without ever leaping to brilliant since she barely took any notice of any other subjects.

The Musical Marauders were interested to note that Dolokhov was becoming aware of their efforts; he obviously knew enough about ritual to have the ability to notice when he was the recipient; and they strengthened their own defenses almost without thinking, in case Dolokhov was good enough to attack them through the link.

He was trying to negate the link, but it did not seem to have occurred to him to attack back; he was actually casting _finite incantatem_!

"Won't work, old boy, not until after the spell goes into effect," muttered Clovis Gierek, noticing his surreptitious wand movements. "Those kids are very competent. Dolokhov knows enough to recognise ritual without being able to counter it. And there it goes!" as the whispered chant reached its climax.

It was a little while before the viewers were rewarded with the multicoloured effects, but there was a collective sigh of pleasure from the Marauders in the school.

oOo

"But you can't be Danica Paslenova!" said Leesitsa Zloyina. "Why, Danica Paslenova is a martyr who died horribly in a hole in the ground when caught spying on Snape!

She had come across the girl, who had spoken to her in Russian, and had consequently asked her name.

Danica laughed.

"Why don't I show you where the hole in the ground went, you – you poor prune?" she said. "Professor Snape and his team lifted my parents' dacha entirely and brought it to the wizarding community further down the mountain."

"But…. How?" asked Leesitsa.

"It's called Extrinsic Translocation by Precision, because I asked, and it took several of them chanting so as not to break anything," said Danica. "Lord Pyotr expected me to be in danger but he still expected a schoolgirl to poke around and put herself in danger. Professor Snape was expecting me you know: and he gave me the choice of putting the fool off the track by telling him the precise truth or of just disappearing, and my parents rescued too. Because I chose – chose mind you – to buy time, he was able to arrange bringing my parents' house as well as them."

"But how could telling him the truth put him off the scent? I don't understand," said Leesitsa.

Danica had been told to answer all of Leesitsa's questions fully, because Severus believed the girl was worth stealing – Krait's word – a little bit.

She shrugged.

"I told him it is Blood Magic, and that the willing sacrifice is what gives more power."

Leesitsa frowned.

"How does that work? Is not Blood Magic powered by the death-terror of the object?"

"That's so much superstitious bunk that makes you sound like a muggle," said Danica, scornfully.

"Oh, and how much experience have you had with Blood Magic then?" sneered Leesitsa.

"As much as any of the others who are a part of it," said Danica. "I was brought into the Blood Pact to protect me from Lord Pyotr. And most of the time it doesn't make much difference, save knowing that you are not alone, because it can't be used to cheat in exams or games or anything, that's against the rules. And the group would prevent any individual trying to break the rules. But if I am under attack I can ask for power. That's the point. Any individual can be the focus because you willingly give yourself to the whole. As anyone could figure out if they read Professor Snape's book, 'Blood Magic, Love Magic' which explains everything about how he and a few others entered into it to protect Harry Potter when fighting Voldemort. And it just carried on. And you can't be in it unless you are willing to love the others and give as much as take."

"Well, isn't there an artefact then, that is fed power?" asked Leesitsa, bewildered. "Lord Pyotr told me to look for the artefact and steal it if I could."

Danica giggled.

"Well, I suppose you could count Professor Snape as an artefact," she said, "but I don't know how you plan to steal him; put him in a box perhaps?"

Leesitsa flushed.

"That sarcasm was unnecessary," she said.

"Oh, I don't know," said Danica. "I think it was moderately important to point out how silly the idea is. Why should he need an artefact? He's loved by hundreds of people, and that love is more powerful than any silly THING."

"I…. I need to consider your words," said Leesitsa. "Leave me."

"Glad to," said Danica. "It's nearly time for the names to be chosen from the Goblet of Fire and I want to see who our champion is."

"I should like to see also," said Leesitsa. "If what you say is all true, that old fart has sent me here for nothing, I could have come next year instead and had my chance to stay on and be a part of the Triwizard!"

"I'm sorry about that," said Danica. "Are those in the years below you so lacking, then?"

"I've learned a lot on my own time," said Leesitsa. "And I read a lot. The upper school are generally well-versed in the Dark Arts and Arithmancy, since it is said to be the basis of all higher magic, and I would wager that most of them don't even know how to apply Arithmancy to use Higher Magic. Even those who have learned Ritual do not apply it as it is applied here, by taking every situation and working out a ritual to cover it, since it is a subject covered by learning by rote, and using base rituals to change according to individual circumstance. Changing the rituals is outside of the scope of ShABA1, the what they call here the NEWT. And yet one comes upon quite little children here performing Chanting as a matter of course!"

"I think Chanting is a very English thing," said Danica. "One of the castle ghosts used to teach it when it was a school for English girls only, before Professor Snape came. She had been teaching for well over a hundred years when she died, which was not, I think, long ago. She sits prep sometimes and teaches piano to those who wish to learn."

"Oh, yes!" said Leesitsa. "She is teaching that young man, Amos Leroy, who thinks rather a lot of himself, and Madam Krumm was lauging that…. Alcithoe, I think she said…. made him mind more than anyone else ever could."

"Oh, but she is so gentle and kind," said Danica. "And shall we go in?"

They were in time to see Dolokhov's rear fluorescing.

"Hi Danica," said Beta. "The Musical Marauders in Durmstrang beat us to it; we were going to combine with Zhenga and co to do a ritual sending of the Dirigible Fart Curse."

"We were arguing over whether it was ethical or not to affect a rival headmaster that much," said Vava.

"Probably not, but it would have been fun," said Hette.

"I thought we weren't allowed to, in the fifth?" said Danica.

The twins looked at each other.

"Oh bother," said Hette.

"Oh well," said Jo, shrugging. "At least the Musical Marauders are young enough."

oOo

"WHAT is the point of this Triwizard thing again?" asked Delfine Schrotter.

"To scare supremacists, I think," said Wanda.

"That's sort of what it's become," said Grelleg, "but Herr Frolich told me something about it. It began as a safety valve for the rivalries between Durmstrang, Hogwarts and Beauxbatons, as a means of keeping score without raiding each other. That was back in the days when such things were considered sport for the older pupils and some of the staff."

"Lovely people," said Wanda.

Grelleg shrugged.

"Well, people get increasingly sophisticated and civilised, I suppose," he said. "It was stopped for ages and ages, and was revived in the year Harry Potter won it jointly with Herr Diggory. And how much of that was Gerhardt interfering to give Voldemort's tool a way of doing away with Herr Potter, I don't know. But I shouldn't be surprised to find that was a part of it."

"It would be logical," said Wanda. "And they keep it going because – what, that sent a message to Durmstrang that was reiterated in the next two?"

"Something like that," said Grelleg. "And then there were the Russians, and this French git interfering that Berthold was spewing off about, and it's imperative to show them that a free person, regardless of race, can run rings around anyone whose thinking is trammelled into 'correct thought'. And it's why half of us will be keeping half our attention on what's happening outside too, in case they decide to wipe us all out. And it's why we have a whacking great fungus exclusion line around the castle, in case the Russians decide to send the whole castle to the Evanesco place with a massive ritual. Berthold hasn't had any of his funny dreams, but any seer can fail, or forget a dream, and constant vigilance is better than relying on prophesy."

"Is there fungus in that place then?" asked Wanda.

"Yes; a horrid but insane girl sent the Junior head's little sister there last year," said Grelleg. "She was rescued – you recall half the staff vanished? – and they found out some wicked people send elves there if they are in a temper. And repelling spells and other animal-level confundments keep the fungi off, but getting back isn't easy unless you have blood links like elves do. And if they decided to do that to this castle we are protected from the fungi while the staff decide whether to just put it back intact or merely rescue us all."

"That would not be good," said Delfine.

"She's training to be English and do the understatement thing," said Hegi.

Everyone laughed at that, including Delfine, who was learning very well about how to be teased.

"Just don't mention the possibility to the little ones," said Grelleg.

"No; they don't need that as a worry," said Wanda. "Thanks for the warning; if it happens we now know the worst and can stay calm to help them."

The little ones were too intent on the screen to take much notice of the quiet conversation of their elders.

"Why is that Russian fellow casting _finite incantatem_?" asked Ulvik out loud, of nobody in particular.

Shortly after, a spell effect might be observed.

"Aren't you supposed to cast the spell ending spell after spells are cast?" asked Didi, confused.

"Likelihood is he saw someone else cast it, but another person did it afterwards," said Ebert.

"Actually…." said Ulvik, "I think the Musical Marauders did something clever and he knew they did it but got his timing wrong."

They all chuckled in glee.

oOo

"If it isn't Sardo who's chosen, I so will scrag him when he gets back," said Galena Mordaunt to her twin. They had been allowed to sit together for this momentous occasion, as they were siblings. Garnet had managed to persuade his sister not to make any sarcastic comment on this matter.

"Be fair, he can't help it if the Goblet is stupid enough to think someone else is better," said Garnet, peaceably. "It got confunded readily enough to add Harry Potter to it."

"And yet they trust its choice," said Galena.

"I expect it has some sort of enchantment on it that enables it to read stuff about the person whose name is put in; like figuring out what people are like from their handwriting," said Garnet.

"Zhenga and Fyra were talking about being able to find people from things they'd touched, I suppose that would be a part of it too," said Galena.

"They are most awfully knowledgeable at Prince Peak," sighed Garnet. "I want to cheer for Sardo but I do wish we'd all gone there!"

"Well, Cousin Mona was a bit of an awful example of what it was like before, I suppose," sighed Galena, "Though she did manage three good NEWTs which is more than a lot manage here."

"I don't like to think what Professor Snape would say if you hadn't done your prep," said Garnet, with lively horror. "I keep hoping that when Sardo's done with this we can transfer, and it's the thought of that which is making me actually work hard!"

"Oh, I thought it was just a sudden fit of madness," said Galena.

Her brother poked her surreptitiously. Anything too overt would have them separated again. And that was something else that was nice about Prince Peak; girls and boys weren't separated except for sleeping, and a modicum of horseplay was ignored.

"Look!" whispered Galena, "The Russian Headmaster's farting and someone has jinxed it!"

"Wilhelm taught me that one," said Garnet. "Cool!"

oOo

"Zut alors, we are so far behind the Marauders in other schools, Pharamond, I feel quite embarrassed," said Jean-Luc.

"I, too, feel that we are out of our depth," said Abelard. "Even with the extra lessons from Darryl, there is talk of ritual bandied about that I do not understand, and the depth of the use of runes, and discussion of pattern magic. My head spins!"

"We can learn, and we will," said Philomène, who spent what time she could with the older boys who were her blood brothers. "And the little ones will at least pick up more from their counterparts."

"Yes, and Papa must invite them in the holidays, and other Marauders, to exchange knowledge," said Pharamond. "And then Marauding will be done properly. We must spread the word that library work is for mischief, and to be better at fighting dark wizards."

"I hope that visiting Marauders, and what they can do, will show the little ones also," said Philomène. "We will need it if Achille and his like continue to pester us!"

oOoOo

The schools lined up at the tables set out for them, as the Goblet of Fire was brought in by the Sports Minister of France, supported by the Sports Ministers of the other three participating countries, though there were only a limited number of people who understood Damian Malfoy's muttered comment that the Russian Sports Minister looked as though he were late of the Spetz Naz.

He was smiling gently, and nastily, and therefore could probably be assumed to be in on the plot.

Yrdl was glad that she had made a knife for her OWL in metalcrafting that had an attachment to undo any ritual knotwork, based on similar principles to the attachment that could unlock any keyhole that Harry Potter had. She was even more glad that she had made a second one for Crow; and that they had given them to use to Antti and Vya, two of the three non-blooded in the Prince Peak contingent. Yrdl had earnestly explained to Flo that they were the two most vulnerable, and that Flo as head girl had to take the knocks with the privilege.

Flo had agreed with this, and murmured that she hoped they would not be necessary.

And the Goblet spat out its first name.

1 Shutko Akademitscheskyo Blesjastchej Attestazi


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

Olympe Maxime read out the names of those chosen by the Goblet of Fire.

"From Hogwarts: Zajala Malfoy-Tobak!" she said.

Zajala was grinning all over her face as she went up to curtsey deeply to Madame Maxime and to David Fraser. She would be representing her brother!

There were cheers for Zajala from her own school, and a large number of those who were welcome in Malfoy Manor from other schools. She might not be a Marauder, but she was also popular, being accounted by her own schoolmates as a fair and evenhanded prefect and house head, who knew when was a good time to have a blind eye and a deaf ear. Pharamond, who was one of those welcome in Malfoy Manor, felt it was a shame that she had chosen not to Maraud, but he knew she would be someone any Marauder would be happy to have at their back. And if the Marauders in the lower sixth were at all disappointed, Nathan summed it up by muttering,

"Look how SORE that Russian Sports Minister looks! Worth not being picked just to see his face!"

"If it had to make a political statement, it might have picked our Tobala, though," said Isambard; Tobala gan Torlo being the one goblin in their group.

"Yes, but to be honest, Zajala is better than me," said Tobala, trying to hide disappointment. "She's the best in the school and we shouldn't care she was picked if she'd ever Marauded in another group."

This was true enough, and the Marauders liked and respected Zajala enough to want to give her due kudos.

"The champion for Durmstrang," said Olympe, "Is Zyrillis Genauschüren."

Zyrillis moved to the front, making a beautiful leg to both Olympe and then to Agata, whose hand he kissed extravagantly. Agata tried not to look pleased: Zyrillis was doing his best to live up to Zlatko. Durmstrang cheered – except for Harald Trollkettil who had his feet stood on again each side, by a twin, because he was grumbling that Zyrillis was only in the lower sixth – because Zyrillis was popular. The Marauders in other schools cheered too.

"The champion for Beauxbatons," said Olympe, "is Pharamond Duval."

The whole of Beauxbatons clapped loudly for Pharamond, and the Champagne Marauders, spread over three years, gave him a good yell. Some of the staff looked scandalised, but Madam Maxime beamed at them. Pharamond also came and bowed with courtly skill, and decided to emulate Zyrillis in kissing the hand of his own headmistress. Olympe was delighted!

The Marauders in the other schools clapped with enthusiasm too, and those who backed Marauders added their cheers for solidarity as they had for Zyrillis.

Madam Maxime beamed all round; Pharamond was the choice she would have hoped for, a good and diligent boy, well connected and able. Such a good thing that Clarembaut fellow was not there! He would have made the school look bad when he reacted childishly to Pharamond being chosen!

The Goblet had next to divulge each of the schools more recently a part of the competition.

"The champion for Prince Peak is Yrdl Breuer," said Olympe Maxime. Yrdl came forward and curtsied to her, and then deeply to Severus. Prince Peak and all the other Marauders yelled with enthusiasm; Yrdl was a popular girl and Durmstrang half considered that she belonged to them, as she was a protégé of a previous champion of Durmstrang. Yrdl had also had a last-minute idea, which she had thrashed out with Crow and Biirta, U-may and Jingjie, Xanthippe and Zyrillis, as the top runes students, and the Prince Peak contingent also wore plaited bracelets of paper covered in hieroglyphs dedicated to the preservation of all parts of the soul intact, carefully calculated to twenty-three syllables to hopefully form something akin to the diffusion grid in case the Russians ran out of creativity in knotwork and merely slung the killing curse. It worked against _Avocado Kedavra_ which was, as AHHa said, pretty good.

The Russians were outraged.

"This is surely illegal!" spluttered the Russian Sports Minister. "Not one, but TWO animals chosen over humans: it cannot be correct!"

"I could have you arrested, Gospodin Motylek, for such racist comments," said Olympe, coldly. "Two GIRLS have been chosen; they are goblins, not animals. And if they are accounted the best from two very able schools, then apparently your belief that they are in some wise inferior is proven incorrect."

"I cannot see how you can expect pure-blooded children to have to compete against these!" spluttered Motylek.

"If you wish to withdraw the unpronounceable Russian school from the competition, because they are afraid of being shown up by goblins, then you had better say so," said Olympe, coldly.

"It is not a question of fearing being shown up by goblins!" yelped Motylek.

"You are hoping that your champion will be better than those who were so easily bested by all the children of Prince Peak at the Duelling contest, then?" asked Agata Bacso, sweetly.

"Snape was doing all the spells at the duel; it is the only explanation!" yelped Dolokhov.

"You will withdraw that comment and apologise or meet me in a duel for taking away my character on worldwide Wizarding Wireless Vision, Dolokhov," said Severus, quietly. "You are suggesting that I have abrogated all integrity as a Headmaster."

Dolokhov looked rather wild. That disturbing zig-zag scar was glowing.

"I – I apologise, I did not mean it," he said.

"Oh BOTHER, I did want to see Severus cream him," said AHHa. Several people poked him.

"I can assure you, and the world that is watching," said Agata, coldly, "That the pistes were properly prepared, and that no spells could pass in or out. You call MY integrity into question also, Sergei."

Dolokhov looked hunted.

Agata Bacso had been a duelling champion herself before she took over the headship of Durmstrang.

"I am sorry, Agata, nothing was further from my thoughts," he said.

"Oh, that I believe," said Agata. "It requires that you had thoughts at all before engaging your mouth."

"I love it when grown-ups bicker like eleven-year-olds, don't you?" murmured Nathan Malfoy. Unfortunately for him, the murmur carried quite clearly, and he reddened as all the school childen present laughed.

"Perhaps if Sergei does not wish to withdraw his school we might move on?" said Olympe. "Of course, Sergei, if you do wish to, as I believe the English say, 'bottle out' then I pray you do so immediately, so we might get on."

"We will compete," said Dolokhov.

"Very good. The next school is Hellibore's, and its champion is Sardo Mordaunt."

Sardo got up, grinning to more than just polite applause, and bowed to the best of his ability to Olympe and to Englebert. He did not attempt to kiss Olympe's hand. He was afraid that doing too many courtly things at once might make him fall over.

Caspar Jefferson, the current Head Boy, had been preparing a silencing charm and dropped it neatly on Ulysses Hobday before that outraged wight might make his outrage audible and reflecting on the school. It was a more subtle way of dealing with the problem of a self-opinionated tick than standing on his feet, which expedient the Eulenspeigel twins had preferred in dealing with Harald Trollkettil, but then their best friends could not accuse the Eulenspeigel twins of being subtle.

"And now onto the most recent additions to this competition," said Olympe. "The London school first: Riker Shorg."

Riker was grinning all over his face as he rose and came forward; and being twenty-one sixty-fourths goblin, was quite plainly only part human. As none of the London contingent were entirely human, Jocelyne having some goblin blood too, this school was never going to return a human contender. Jocelyne was beginning angry hysterics, and had no prefect to deal with them, so Neville Longbottom hastily summoned a glass of glumbumble juice right under her nose, a clever piece of extrinsic fabrication by precision, and the look he gave her made it plain that she would keep her hysterics to herself or he would pour.

Jocelyne shut up.

Riker was less well versed in the amenities than those of the posher schools; but all three contenders had been drilled well enough to manage a bow that was only a little sketchier than Sardo's to Olympe, and another to Neville.

"I suppose the German trash will also provide some animal as their contender," said Aglaia Hallow to Palagina Motyileka, who was the Sports Minister's daughter. .

"It's sad when human blood is so dilute that even goblins can surpass them," said Palagina.

"The champion of the Schloss Adler," said Olympe, "Is Biirta Hess."

Biirta gasped. She had hoped; of course she had hoped! But she had still expected it to be Gunnar. She made herself walk forward like a queen, the way Narcissa had taught her, not stumble forward like a naughty schoolgirl, which was the way she felt. Her curtsey to Olympe, and the deeper one to Jade were things of beauty.

There was surreptitious wand work.

"She is pure blood!" cried the Russian Sports Minister. "Has she then been introduced to your school for taints and … goblins just for this?"

Jade regarded him coldly.

"Since the Schloss Adler does not question blood status, the fact that Fraulein Hess is pure blood is a matter of complete indifference to me. She has been at the school since its inception, coming as she did from the orphanage in Berlin, where she had been from the age of eleven, along with her younger brother and sister. Now, Tovarisch, will you apologise to me for questioning my integrity, or will Russia be looking for a new Sports Minister after I have duelled you and left you yapping in a kennel for real, like the dog you are?"

Motylek spluttered.

"I will not duel you, I do not know your blood status!" he yelped.

"The Frau Baronin is pure-blooded," said Agata; which was not wholly a lie. Jade's power showed her up as pure-blooded, and the Frau Baronin Nefrita Von Strang was officially pure-blood. Agata added maliciously, "She did kill Gerhardt Grindelwald, you know, so I should advise an apology. If she says she is going to turn you into a dog on the piste, she will do so."

"I… I did not mean to question integrity," said Motylek.

"I suppose that will have to do," said Jade. "I cannot expect you to be cultured enough to manage a decent apology as you are but some kind of Kulak."

Motylek winced at being called a wealthy peasant; it was close to the truth.

"I should like to raise a point here," said David. "Although Miss Hess has been at school since Schloss Adler opened, it has never been illegal for any school to include those who have joined the school for their senior years. I believe Schloss Adler takes pupils from those small schools which have no facilities to teach to, ah, ZH; and indeed sometimes pupils come to Hogwarts from small centres to take higher qualifications. And Beauxbatons too, Olympe?"

"But yes! We had one boy who came solely because he wished to take part in the Triwizard," said Olympe. "Unfortunately his home education had not taught him that Unforgivable Curses are against the rules, and so he did not stay long enough to even try for it. It is an accepted part of the way life works, though generally, incomers have not the breadth or depth to be chosen."

"Under the circumstances, if Gospodin Motylek wishes to make an issue of such things, his own countryman's school has an incomer, who is a reject of Durmstrang," said Agata, who was enjoying herself.

"I… no, there is no issue over it," said Motylek. The English girl from Durmstrang would not be chosen anyway, but it was careless of Dolokhov to let her come and permit him to be made a fool of by the sneering bitch of Durmstrang whom he recalled from his own schooldays there. Hungarians had been a few rungs up the social ladder over Russians in those days. He gave Dolokhov a look that left him in no doubt that he would have words later.

Olympe smiled brightly.

"Now that little point of honour is cleared up, let me announce the champion of the Unpronouncable Russian School, which is Aglaia Hallow."

There were several howls on anguish and outrage from the Russian table, and Dolokhov and Motylek looked stunned.

"Let me see that!" Motylek snatched the slip of paper from Olympe's hand.

"Are you now calling MY integrity into contempt, M'sieur?" said Olympe. "Is that your tactic? To try to discredit each head in turn?"

Motylek was looking at Aglaia's name in horror. The Goblet burned all the names it had not chosen.

"It must have made a mistake, why she is not even Russian!" he cried.

"Gospodin Motylek," said David Fraser, coldly, "you have called into question almost every choice of the Goblet of Fire; if you do not believe in the ritual that enchanted it in the first place, why, may I ask, are you lending yourself to the Triwizard contest at all? You query the daughter of one of our school governors, you and your school's head have attacked the integrity of all the head teachers except me; perhaps because you fear the zig-zag scar. But then, of course, you should equally have avoided irritating Severus. You bring nobody into disrepute but yourself and the Cheestykrova Shkola Koldoovstvoy. You may be sore that the champion for Russia is not your daughter, but that, as they say, is hard cheese. I reiterate what Olympe said; if you wish to withdraw your team, do so now. None of us are impressed by your, or their, manners. If you wish to continue, the Hallow girl has been chosen, which suggests her time in Durmstrang provided her with greater depth than Sergei can manage to teach. Simples," he added, with Meerkat noises.

"Well, we will stay," said Motylek. "And now all are chosen…"

Olympe held up a hand.

"There is one more name," she said.

"What? But all the schools are represented!" cried Motylek.

"Oh but there is also Lilith Snape," said Olympe Maxime, and Lilith pirouetted down her invisible staircase to sink into a curtsey as to a queen, and then to echo it to David.

"But she cannot have confunded the Goblet and put her name in! She is just a little girl! This is some plot of Snape's!" cried Motylek. Yrdl laid a hand on her headmaster's wrist as his hand twitched towards his wand.

"How dare you say I am not clever enough to circumvent the age line and confund the Goblet?" demanded Lilith in faultless Russian. "You are a _nicultyurny_ pig, and your children wash in your cookpot that your wife has crapped in."

Severus shuddered. It was faultless Russian idiom too.

"Lilith, my dear, you may not force a duel on a Sports Minister, however insulting and _niculturniy_ he may be," said Olympe, demonstrating that she had followed Lilith's comments. All the heads had been rapidly learning Russian just because.

"Awwwww," said Lilith. "He'd make a neat statue."

"It is, however, forbidden," said Olympe, firmly. "M. Motylek is merely surprised and spoke out of turn; anyone who knows you is well aware that the granddaughter of Voldemort has powers surpassing those of her age. She could have managed to do this as a pupil of Hogwarts school, but shows the famous English sporting spirit to give other Hogwarts students a chance."

"Well it wouldn't be fair, otherwise," said Lilith.

"She will be without a father by nightfall, however," ground out Motylek, white and shaken to discover Lilith's antecedants and hoping that Snape was not Voldemort's son.

As he spoke, Dolokhov said a word, and men appeared, climbing through rope hoops they brought with them, each to throw over one of the contingent of Prince Peak. By this time the protectors from the other schools had turned up, and cutting charms were aimed at intricate knots; and Antti and Vya plunged their knives into the centres of the knots before they were even partly over them.

The rope circles fell apart; and seventeen Russian wizards gawped foolishly just long enough to realise that they were cut off from their base before the wands of several children were out and levelled, and instead there were seventeen statues.

"I don't believe Russia was invited to prepare a task for the contest," said the French Sports Minister, mildly. "However it does demonstrate that a fourth task, calling for the champion to wisely choose helpers from the other contenders, is more than overdue. I certainly move that it be implemented for the next Triwizard."

"Seconded," said David. "Indeed, I think it should be the first task, though the timing of four tasks when there are but three terms is not easy."

"As the choosing takes up a part of the first term, and exams happen in the third, perhaps two tasks might fall in the spring term," suggested Agata. "A time when cooped up children may be bored, and thus having that to look forward to will help them contain themselves."

"Or withdrawal of permission to watch be exercised as a punishment," said Severus.

"We have no trouble here with cooped up children, but it is a good idea," said Olympe.

"Lilith, turn the Russian Sports Minister back to flesh, please," said Jade.

Lilith pulled a face.

"He was expecting them," she said.

"Nevertheless, please do as she says," said Severus. "I am sure that the Enquêteurs will wish to question him."

"Undoubtedly," said Olympe, as Lilith shrugged and waved a negligent hand, bringing a startled Motylek back to consciousness.

Enquêteurs were apparating in, Olympe having dropped the anti-apparating zone for them and sending her patronus for them while the unmusical statuary had been going on. Most of them had been watching it on their station house Wizarding Wireless Vision Globes anyway!

The statues were soon removed, as was a spluttering Motylek while his daughter had hysterics.

"I say, I'm sorry your father is a fink," said Adam, going over. "Mine's not so great either."

"_Mudlo_!" spat Palagina.

"Well, the same to you with brass knobs on," said Adam. "I was only sorry for you having to see that nastiness, but if you don't want me to be civilised, I'll just ignore you."

"She doesn't want to associate with whatever sort of blood taint you are," said Aglaia.

Adam shrugged.

"Suit yourself, Durmstrang's reject," he said.

It was a nickname that was going to stick, and Aglaia knew it. She went for her wand to fire a stinging hex at him.

Adam's shield held; that was one thing he had learned very well so far. He frowned in concentration and Aglaia presently sported batwings for ears and a wart on her nose. She would be able to cancel the effects easily enough, but for now it amused Adam that the least likely contender for Hogwarts had managed to jinx the Russian champion because he had the willpower to cast wordlessly and wandlessly so she had no clue what he was doing. He had learned from Lucius that a real gentleman knows when to stop being one.

"And that's one for the US of A," he said.

oOoOo

The contestants were each handed a piece of paper on which a clue to the first task was written: and they were permitted a week in which to research and decide on tactics. Lilith read it through.

"Oh doxy droppings," she said in disgust, "Why couldn't it be something friendly like dragons?"

"David," said Severus, "I know you get on well with Hagrid, but don't you think he's corrupting my daughter?"

"I don't think she needed it," said David, dryly. "Hellebore has set this task, so I can't see it being terribly stretching."

"It isn't," said Zajala. "I need to skank a book or two off Faunus to check I'm on the right track."

"Read it out," said David.

"_A delicate task, requiring precision,_

_With firmness of purpose, and, too, of decision._

_Their tempers are hot, like the plains where they tread, _

_Headfirst to the fray, without using their head. _

_So use your sangfroid and without sturm und drang, _

_This is not a good task to go with a bang_." said Zajala.

Pharamond drifted over.

"I'm with Lilith's comment," he said.

"Me too," said Zajala. "Oh dear, Hellebore's own boy hasn't a clue, too precious to deal with dangerous animals or plants I suppose. Hallow is scowling as well. I was going to use cushioning charms."

"I was going to chant to hold it," said Pharamond.

"I'm going to keep Harry's and Jade's end up by using a broom," said Lilith. "More fun, anyway."

"I was planning on using chanting of some kind, too," said Yrdl, "and maybe runes. We may prepare things and _accio_ them mayn't we?"

"Yes, because of brooms, and people have used potions in the past," said Lilith. "Bii, what are you going to do?"

"Feed it soporific plants," said Biirta.

"Now that's quite brilliant," said Lilith.

"Now then, conferring to solve the puzzle isn't allowed," said the German Minister of Sport.

"Who needs to confer? Solving the riddle is a bit obvious," said Yrdl, "We were comparing tactics in broad so that we don't duplicate as it led Jade Snape to be marked down unfairly last time, as she only formulated the idea first, but went second."

The German minister went red.

"That was my predecessor," he blustered.

"Well, there should be no problem then, unless the Cheesycrumb minister has funny ideas," said Zajala brightly. "Zyrillis! You got any tactics? We'll show you ours if you show us yours."

"I was wondering about broom," said Zyrillis "but then I thought, here's Halfpint, who broomsurfs, and if she goes for that, I look boring."

"I did NOT make you lot free with the nickname my boyfriend has for me," said Lilith, spoiling the dignity by sticking her tongue out.

"Sorry, Lilith," said Zyrillis. "I'm fresh out of ideas save the more obvious ZH sort of ones."

"Which I was going to use as I have no interest in big scary beasts," said Zajala. "I did Care of Domestic at OWL and I only got an 'E' which was down purely to Dad having horses, which is why I didn't drop to 'A' like I did in Herbology, which is all a pile of…"

"….manure," said Biirta. "The German minister has delicate ears and is not used to aggressive gardeners."

"He'd better not visit Durmstrang, then," grinned Zyrillis. "We have a group in the fourth who take combat gardening to new heights. I'd rather face dragons than one of their enchanted topiaries."

"Smile; Durmstrang is setting the third task, what's the betting Agata is using their aggressive topiaries?" said Yrdl.

The German minister decided not to ask how a goblin in Snape's school came to be on first name terms with the Durmstrang headmistress to whom he felt an urge to click his heels and salute.

"Play to your strengths, Zyrillis," said Zajala.

"What, bore it to sleep with my best arithmancy?" laughed Zyrillis. "Hey, I have it! Bii can put it to sleep with plants, potions are one of my things."

"Lots of things are your things," said Yrdl, equably. "Zlatko had a hundred galleons on you being the champion for Durmstrang and an accumulator on you being in the top three."

"Well, that's comfort," said Zyrillis. "My esteemed ex head boy rates me. Now all I have to do is figure out how to deliver the potion."

"It has a huge stomach full of semi-digested matter, don't it?" said Lilith.

"OY, Lils, don't give him too many clues, but that really is a daisy," said Biirta.

"Yes, isn't it?" said Lilith, who considered switching spells easy.

"OH" said Zyrillis. "That… could work. Bubble head for the smell though," he added.

"Well that's not my problem," said Lilith. "HEY! I just had a thought!"

"Oh boy," said Zajala, "And so have I… that's kinda almost evil… but it does use its own weaknesses against it…"

"Contact sleep poison though," said Lilith.

"Yes, but that's not so hard, should touch mucus membranes like that," said Zajala.

"Any idea what they're on about?" asked Pharamond.

"Some," said Yrdl, "and it is fairly brilliant, I wish I'd thought of it. But I have my own ideas. Hey, Riker, Sardo, have you decided how to deal with it? I doubt Aglaia wants to talk about it."

"None at all," said Riker.

"You ride at all, being a Withers?" asked Lilith. Riker brightened.

"Will I be allowed a horse?"

"If I'm allowed a broom," said Lilith. "At least, I don't see why not. Let's ask Olympe, and see if you can't be allowed to form a relationship with one in her stables. They do ride here, even if they don't compete."

"Great!" said Riker, feeling a lot happier.

"I'm not even sure what it is," said Sardo.

"Go look up beasts from hot plains," said Pharamond, kindly. "The book you want is _'Les Animaux magicale du Monde,'_ it has a blue cover and is on the third shelf from the left in the library."

"Thanks," said Sardo.

Lilith dragged Riker to talk to Madame Maxime, who readily gave permission for Riker to use a horse of his choice, as soon as Lilith had reassured her that his pedigree was pure Withers.

"She don't turn a hair at me being a third goblin," marvelled Riker, "Just so long as I was from a horsy family!"

"Oh Olympe's heart is as big as her bosom," said Lilith. "Hey, you oiks, are we going down to the stables together?"

oOoOo

Lilith had waved to Adam to join them in going to the stables, and he willingly went along. The older Marauders treated him as a spare brother but he was there for Lilith.

"What's the task?" he asked.

"Erumpants," said Lilith. "They look a bit like rhinos, only their horn is full of exploding fluid. It has masses of uses in potioneering, quite apart from the less useful but amusing ones the Weasley twins put it to in their jokes and toys, but getting it drained without the horn exploding is kinda difficult. The males try to explode each other; they're a bit of an endangered species."

"No shit, Sherlock," said Adam, who had picked that one up from Draco.

"Well, if you cover them in cushioning charms you can milk it," said Lilith, "Which is the standard NEWT response to them, but I don't suppose we'll be doing anything as useful or standard as milking the fluid. Zajala, however, is going to have a go at switching the exploding fluid with a sleeping potion – which means she gets the fluid too, in the container, which is a bonus – and then getting the wretched critter to break its horn on something and spray itself with sleep juice. They're a bit magic resistant."

"As far as I can tell that's standard with anything that can kill you easily if you can't subdue them with spells," said Adam.

"I think it was obligatory when mad wizards were inventing ever sillier guard animals before magical breeding experiments were outlawed before humans became an endangered species," said Lilith. "I mean, manticores, for example! The only way to deal with a manticore is to drop a big rock on it. REALLY," she added as Adam raised an interrogative eyebrow, and proceeded to tell him about David Fraser's Triwizard. "And if Dumbledore hadn't been fairly certain David would be the winner, and able to think outside the box, I doubt he'd have used it," she added.

"This competition is really DANGEROUS," said Adam.

"Yes of course," said Lilith. "Dad moans about it, but we need to show the racists that we're more dangerous."

"What do you plan to do?" asked Adam.

"Outfly the perisher and do whatever I have to do from above," said Lilith. "I won't get such good style marks as people like Bii, or Zyrillis or Yrdl or Zajala but my plan is to amass more time points. If it's something I can't use my broom for, I'll pull out some kind of chant on the fly. Doing Triwizard is good practice for fighting dark wizards; the tasks are a bit many headed and mutable, sometimes so daft that logic doesn't work, and we get to fight real dark wizards alongside when the gits decide that their champion needs a bit of help."

"Rather you than me, actually," said Adam.

"That's why you didn't get picked, as much as Zajala being good," said Lilith. "Any one out of her, Nathan, Jingjie and maybe Kevin could have done it, but Zajala has a point to prove. She's not Blood Group but she is a Malfoy, and she idolises Gorbrin. She's doing it for him, and for Lucius too."

"Do you psychoanalyse everyone?" asked Adam.

"Of course. It's a good habit to have so when I have to legilimens baddies, I know where to poke," said Lilith. "Hey, what's Riker getting upset about? Come on!"

They ran to catch up to Riker who was shouting at the uncomprehending Russian groom.

"Hold hard, Riker, he doesn't understand," said Lilith. "What is…. Hang on, do I smell fungus?"

"It's thrush, their hooves must be infected," said Riker.

Lilith turned to the groom and addressed him.

"Imbecile peasant, are you entirely stupid that you are permitting one of the horses under your care to suffer from a fungal infection of the hooves?"

The groom shrugged.

"More where they came from, miss, and it's their wings they use, not their hooves."

"And what about when they are on the ground?" demanded Lilith and switched smoothly to French. "Pharamond, I beg you will go to Olympe and tell her that her stables are at risk from an infectious disease that this _canaille_ of a groom seems not to care about, and ask her to speak about this with Dolokhov. Riker," she switched back to English, "We need Madam Maxime's permission to throw this fellow out to treat the horses, and while we're about it, do the French have a Ministry of Beasts? They must have, in order to see they are cared for."

"I will have Madame Maxime contact them," said Pharamond as he left.

oOo

Madam Maxime herself erupted into the stables with Dolokhov in unwilling tow, telling her that he left all that to the grooms.

"_Tais toi, imbecile_," said Olympe, who had had enough of him. She proceeded to question the groom thoroughly, and learned that as the Russian ministry provided horses, if one was ailing and failed to get better it would be destroyed and a replacement got in.

This horrified all the contestants and Riker was crying.

"Peace, my children," said Olympe, enfolding Riker in a motherly embrace. "I have already used the floo to contact the Ministry of Beasts, and as soon as an inspector arrives, I will demand that he place these animals in my custody and rescind the pass for them to travel in the hands of these… Russians," she made it an insult "in _La Belle France_ forthwith. Indeed they may ban them entirely from bringing animals into France," she said happily.

"They'll only abuse them in their own lands then," said Riker.

"Hush, my little cabbage, one does not become a contender without having resourcefulness, especially with such good friends," said Olympe.

"She said you get to make a career of stealing them, and we cover for you," murmured Lilith.

Riker calmed down noticeably.

oOo

It did not take long for the Inspector of Beasts to arrive, a sharply-dressed witch whose chic was on the edge of power-dressing. She was beautifully manicured and groomed, and most of the English contingent looked at her askance. However her nose twitched.

"THRUSH!" she said. "More a disease in muggle horses, how came this infection?"

"These_ canailles_ of Russians have brought it," said Olympe.

"Really, madam, I cannot see what the fuss is about," said Dolokhov. "They are only animals; if they fail to perform they can be destroyed. If you are concerned I can banish them."

He was the recipient of several flat, unfriendly stares, and Zajala, Damian, Pharamond, Lilith, Biirta and Riker, who were the horsiest ones, advanced on him menacingly.

Dolokhov fled incontinently.

With a single exchange of a blazing look, all the contestents – Aglaia excepted of course – and such vaguely horsy hangers-on as had come, linked hands and Lilith began a chant. It was quite simple; she was using 'horsey, horsey, don't you stop' and the others picked it up. Then Lilith began a counterpoint, using Dolokhov's full name; and chuckling, Pharamond added a second, and Yrdl a third. Yrdl was not horsy, but she had enough friends who were. Biirta added a twist and Zyrillis built upon it.

"What are they doing?" asked the inspector.

"I don't quite know, but I doubt Dolokhov is going to enjoy it," said Olympe. "What naughty children they are!" her voice was indulgent.

"Well, I know nothing of this new chanting, and I have sick horses to inspect and write a report on, so whatever games they play are nothing to do with me," said the inspector.

Lilith noted absently that this was a seriously good egg.

The chant ended, and wherever he was, Dolokhov now had hooves, asses ears, a tail, and a nasty infection of chizpurfles and had also developed splints, even though he was a bit old for that to be a common condition. And as it was chanted in using his true name, he would need serious ritual to escape from it.

The group considered they had done a good job, even though Sardo had to ask,

"What was all that about?"

They told him and he fell about laughing.

oOo

When the inspector had finished, they all trooped into the stable and started chanting again to kill the fungi and heal the horses.

"I leave everything like that to my chanters," said Olympe, airily.

"We need to learn," said the inspector.

"Send someone to Prince Peak for a year," said Olympe. "Severus is the best. And those he has trained are almost as good."

"I will talk to someone about it being an essential thing to have on the budget," said the inspector. "It could save a fortune in the long term. Dear me, even the smell has disappeared, and have those children changed the hay too? My goodness!"

Chanting was already held in high esteem in France; and it had gained another influential convert.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

"Why have you Marauders done this to my Headmaster?" demanded Aglaia Hallow.

"Dear me, Hallow, I should have thought someone English would have actually cared about the mistreatement of horses," said Zyrillis.

"What are you talking about?" said Aglaia.

"The fact that two of the three horses who drew your sleigh had thrush in the hooves."

"Thrush? Muggle horses get that," said Aglaia, who was moderately horsy.

"And so do neglected flying horses," said Riker. "And the groom knew and said they could always get more if they didn't perform; Dolokhov said they were only animals and they could be replaced and if Madame Maxime really cared about infection he would send them to the _evanesco_ place – which from what I've heard is not a nice place."

"You can't see straight, because the atmosphere is odd," said Lilith, coldly. "As soon as you get there, the self-motile fungi start crawling up you and exuding acids to dissolve and digest you alive. It hurts."

Aglaia stared.

"She can be annoying," said Zajala. "Last year a sixth former sent her there. If she wasn't a Marauder and had all her family to help she would probably have died horribly. Being a Marauder she went back there, with a lifeline, to study the fungi and work out defenses. The horses wouldn't have a chance, they'd die screaming and in terror for a condition which is easy to cure, either by muggle or magical means. People who get rid of unwanted animals, or house elves, that way are despicable, and it makes you wonder if they also consider it a suitable thing to do to any children born squibs."

Aglaia looked sick.

"But… but nobody would do that to horses!" she said.

Zyrillis shrugged.

"Why not ask him, Hallow? He'll probably tell you. You're one of the pure bloods after all, and nothing else matters, no other beast or being."

Aglaia fled.

"Well," said Lilith, "Maybe there's something decent inside her, even if it's only loving horses. She might actually be salvable. Maybe."

"A big maybe," said Zyrillis.

oOoOo

The excitement over the choosing of the names had been received in various different ways in the different schools. The blatant gamesmanship of the Russians had shocked the Londoners, though having Abraxus laughing, and declaring it par for the course from supremacists calmed them down.

When the attack came, there was much horror, turning to shocked admiration as the children dealt ably with the would-be _bogatyri_, while the various heads watched and smiled amiably.

"GAWDSTOOF!" said one of the goblin fathers. "I was a bit disappointed my boy didn't make it onto the team, but if that's what's to be expected, the posh schools are welcome to it!"

"Oh, evil occurs in all walks of life," said Abraxus. "One might hope that those who make it to the Triwizard and stand into danger, ready to defend, as you note our own Riker did, are the ones who are likely to make it to be Aurors or similar, and who will then know that the suspect who looks scruffiest is not necessarily the most likely to be guilty. And those of you in this end of London would not be immune – the reverse – if these sort of people were allowed to win. Half-breeds are, in their book, criminals by definition, as are people who are mixed race couples. Mark that, and know that our children are seeing them first hand, to protect their neighbourhood by being involved."

Mrs Todd set up a screech.

"Get my Jocelyne back right now! She didn't ought to be in danger like this!"

"Mrs Todd, the whole competition is dangerous, as all the professors made clear to Jocelyne," said Abraxus, levelly. "If she chooses not to come on future trips and not to support Riker, that will be her choice and we shall all know what to think."

"Can't you get her right away?" demanded Mrs Todd. "I'll complain about you, I will, to the Ministry, putting my little girl in danger."

"Your little girl," said Abraxus, "Chose to stay here instead of taking up a place in Hogwarts because she knew fine well that she'd never stand a chance of being champion of Hogwarts, whereas here she is one of the most talented. Go and complain to the Ministry; and they'll ask you why you are interfering in the choices of an adult. Jocelyne is over seventeen."

"Your brat is just like you, wants her cake and eat it too," said Mr Shorg. "I bet if she had been chosen, there'd be none of this 'get her back' crap, you'd be down the betting shop to see how well she'd be doing."

This was true enough, and Mrs Todd subsided.

The children of the London school were proud to be represented, but it has to be said, on the whole they were more glad than otherwise that the representative was not them.

oOo

This was not an attitude reflected by the Marauders at least in other schools, though it may be said that some of the non-marauders were secretly glad not to be involved. The most altruistic opinion was probably expressed by Magda in Schloss Adler, who exclaimed,

"Oh! Though I am glad not to be involved, I wish I had chosen to go, to support Biirta, and be there for Gauda!"

All the others who had chosen to remain at school were not displeased to be well out of it, though Friedrich and Kristel were to later express indignant wishes that they could have been there to enact retribution on Dolokhov.

In Hogwarts, Walter Trimmer declared that it was ridiculous that Lilith Snape should have got her name into the Goblet without adult intervention and wondered out loud whether her father or Professor Fraser had organised it; whereupon her own set did not have to declare that Lilith was capable on her own, since Trimmer had his nose bloodied by a well-aimed and newly-invented boxing-glove hex from Hubert McLaggan, of all people.

"Snape so IS capable, you fatuous git," said McLaggan, "and as she's a house member of yours, you ought to be one person who knows that. You HAVE remembered whose granddaughter she is, haven't you, you twerp? And that she's Malfoy as well?"

"Nice hex, McLaggan," drawled Sextus. "I'm sure Trimmer doesn't believe in New Zealand either when he goes to lie on the beach there to wank over pictures in 'Playwizard' because Lilith couldn't know how to set that up either when we were just little kids. He can't cope with ritual much more complex than washing his hands after flushing, and I'm not even sure he can cope with that."

Trimmer went for Sextus with drawn wand, which was a mistake, and Connie Hardbroom later gave the older boy a scolding for whatever he had done to irritate someone more capable, and probably younger than himself – true, and therefore not something Trimmer could protest – when she undid him from most of his predicament.

Trimmer's predicament involved having hands that were chomping cabbages so he dared do nothing but keep them at arm's length, his legs were fused and jellied and his eyebrows were transfigured into a violin on the left and fiddlestick on the right, and were playing Faurés 'Requiem'. Connie had tracked the plaintive _Pie Jesus_ to the cloakroom cupboard wherein Sextus had stored Trimmer, and managed to pull off enough of a chant to undo everything except the appearance of his eyebrows. Sextus was missing Lilith and was inordinately proud of her ability.

It should be noted that nobody at Hogwarts was either surprised or unduly upset by the arrival at the Triwizard of the attack wizards; both Julian and his sister, and then Hazel had pronounced upon the subject at various times, and besides, attacking schoolchildren was what dark wizards did. This being explained to any of the younger ones who did not know meant that the little ones were largely reassured, since the big ones were so matter-of-fact over it that there appeared to be nothing to get excited over.

"I expect you muggleborn must find all this rather strange," said a patronising girl named Hermiette Dagworth to Harry and Ace. "I went to Charm School to prepare me for coming here, so I am perfectly at home with using controllable magic, as we had training wands."

"What, like training pants when you move out of diapers?" said Ace.

"Or training wheels on muggle fairycycles, which are like training trims on a broom" said Harry.

"You are so stupid!" said Hemiette, who had no idea she was being mocked. "Training wands are dedicated wands with useful spells included that will only cast them when the proper motions and words are used."

"So they don't teach you anything useful like the really top Wizarding families to cast a shield charm wordlessly and wandlessly preschool?" said Lucasta.

"Nobody teaches anything like that, I assure you!" said Hemiette.

"Funny," said Lucasta. "MY family, and the other real wizarding families, like the Snapes, the Weasleys and so on have been teaching that the moment their offspring exhibit accidental magic, since the Voldemort years."

"Nobody can cast wordlessly and wandlessly in a controlled manner," declared Hermiette.

"Oh, then you won't mind the jinxes we can't cast on you then, as they don't exist," said Ace, grinning at Harry. They folded their arms, and Hermiette squealed in terror as maggot-filled pustules exploded on her skin. Being a joint effort, half of them were singing Iron Maiden's 'Can I play with Madness' as seemed appropriate to Harry, and the rest were singing 'The Star Spangled Banner' because Ace felt that the Limey ought to appreciate just who had jinxed her.

Professor Flitwick, whose pupil Hermiette was, managed to remove the effects and explained dryly that any silly little girl stupid enough to declare emphatically upon subjects of which she plainly had no knowledge, since casting wordlessly and wandlessly was considered a most useful skill, when speaking to the cousin of Harry Potter and a ward of Lucius Malfoy deserved everything she got, since she was not hurt, merely a little….noisy.

Hermiette's sobs would have drowned out the maggots had they still been singing, and they were sobs of real rage that she had been shown up by children of houses who had no right to know more than she did.

Filius Flitwick sighed.

His thoughts were along the lines of 'oh no, not again'. He had not read the 'Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy', but he would have appreciated the thoughts of a certain bowl of petunias therein.

oOo

The children of Prince Peak and Durmstrang were more recently and personally acquainted with the attacks of supremacists, and on the whole were quite blasé about the whole affair. It has to be admitted that the younger ones were quite excited that they were likely to 'get a crack' at them. It is true that Simone Fabrier in Durmstrang began to sniff, and her eyes teared up, but she swallowed hard when Daffodil Steen hissed,

"For shame! In front of the babes!"

It appeared that a big girl in the second was not permitted to cry at all, and Simone retreated into a bit of a huff. At least her friend Renate Dunkelschwann squeezed her arm and whispered,

"We must be brave so the little ones are not frightened; remember how it helped us be brave last year that the big ones showed no fear to those awful men!"

Simone shuddered. It had been the worst day of her life! And yet when she had got home, her father had told her that he would heal any injuries that she had; and when she had said that the elves and big ones had not let the men hurt the first years, it transpired that he had expected her to have injuries from older children in the school! She was sore with her papa right now, since he had sent her to a school where he expected her to get hurt, and was more than ready to try to fit in with Daffodil's expectations of her, to prove to her father that she was not a cry-baby and that she was a regular schoolgirl who fitted in.

Her father's expectations of wand-burning and worse made Simone appreciate more how gently she had been treated by her fellows and by the older ones.

oOo

The Hellibores children had heard tales from relatives at Prince Peak, and from the children when they had visited at Yule, but seeing such things happen before them on Wizarding Wireless Vision was profoundly shocking. Some hysterics were threatened, but the voice of Professor Grant, who had been a Triwizard contender in his own time, rang out.

"Dear me, how these inadequate fellows do like to think that they can make themselves look big by attacking schoolchildren! And as always, of course, the more talented schoolchildren make them look foolish. Exactly the same thing happened at Durmstrang, when I was up for the Triwizard; they actually cast the killing curse at Professor Dumbledore there, and of course it bounced. And the kids of Hogwarts and Prince Peak turned those attack wizards into rats. Highly amusing it was. It was why I went to do a year post NEWT at the Peak, to learn how to cast wandlessly and wordlessly myself, as my brother did; you older ones may recall he taught here for a year."

"Did you or your brother have to fight dark wizards, sir?" piped up Garnet.

"My brother had a little bit of an interruption in his postgraduate studies when Durmstrang asked for a little support in occupying the German Ministry building and killing Gerhardt Grindelwald," said Miles, "and though my year was remarkably quiet, I DID see the staff helping out sort out the aftermath of ODESSA and met someone who was escaping with her son from an evil husband who was an ODESSA supporter. So believe me, I know what I'm talking about; our headmaster is quite equal to protecting the boys who are with him," Miles added, with his fingers crossed behind his back so that little lie didn't count.

It was more likely to be a case of the children of Prince Peak protecting both Hellibore's boys and Hellibore himself. And as the Old Man had two grandsons there, they would probably take that task seriously. Miles had asked for a bit of help from Angelica Hellibore and her friends to chant in a line of warning if any approached with evil intent; it worked in a similar way to a foe mirror, save that it sounded an alarm instead.

He had not troubled Englebert Hellibore with this piece of information, because Hellibore did not go out of his way to antgonise people the way Severus did, but just in case some supremacist or other thought it clever to take over a school, maybe with intent of using it as a trap for Severus, it seemed like a good idea at the time. And Angelica had not pooh-poohed it as an idea, and she had been there from the time Gerhardt Grindelwald had taken over what had been Cackle's school!

The children seemed at least comforted that one of their professors just took it all in his stride; and the fact that Hellibore himself was sitting with the other school heads looking more resigned than outraged or frightened dispelled any remaining fears.

Miles Grant might have felt less easy in his mind had he known that his stories had inspired Galena and Garnet Mordaunt to practise casting wordlessly and wandlessly, to give more scope for mischief.

oOo

The children in Beauxbatons had been very much upset, on the whole, by such irregularities. Last year's duel in which Darryl had been forced to reflect the killing curse of one of Achille Villeneuve's adherents had upset them greatly, and now having their castle invaded by men who had appeared from nowhere in an anti-apparating zone was terrifying.

Fortunately, Darryl's line negating hysteria was still holding, and though many of them were very upset, surprisingly little glumbumble juice was required.

Olympe, after having sorted out such important things as the wellbeing of horses, sent for Desolina. She could have asked Severus, and intended to, but she wanted to know how much Desolina knew.

"How then, my cabbage, did those wizards come past an anti-apparating zone?" she demanded.

"Oh, it is easy enough," said Desolina. "Because they had Dolokhov, or that Motylek fellow, to form a ritual link as this end, to guide in a gate. When they invaded Durmstrang, a few fellows set up a gate from within, with a rope exit, which would have echoed an entrance at the other end. It wasn't hard to destroy to prevent both their escape and the bringing in of others, since they neglected to guard it. However, we discussed other ways of doing it, and any ritual anchor, if prepared beforehand, or in someway blood-joined to a ritual wizard, like an elf or close relative, can be the focus for the opening of the gate. As I understand it, whichever one it was made subtle chalk marks on the undersides of the chairs of those they planned to kidnap, which guided the individual gates. As it was expected by the Diviners of the groups, they preferred to be prepared for what they knew than to have to work on the fly if they merely blocked the gates."

"I would have liked to have been told," said Olympe.

"Xanthe told me that you might make them prevent it which her hunches told her might have led to deaths," said Desolina. "Xanthe isn't as good as Zyrillis or Eve, but I don't ignore the hunches of a Marauder. I'm sorry, Olympe; but I think she was right that you would have insisted on wiping out the chalk."

"I probably should have," said Olympe, grimly. "Led to deaths? Zut alors! I have never known any Diviner worth their salt able to predict anything clearly, though we must of course teach it, if only for Insurance divining."

"The students of Prince Peak, Schloss Adler and Durmstrang treat Divining as a combat subject the way they approach Herbology," said Desolina, dryly. "And Durmstrang has done some pioneering work in putting together a team able to use even the slightest of foreknowledge, to feed knowledge to the best, in the case of last year, Zyrillis, to put him artificially into a trance to follow the threads. He came over rather well," she added. "We all knew exactly what to do, and we did it. Letting them in trapped them; if they had attacked from without, as here, there would have been deaths. Severus and Wulf are following the Durmstrang example as each has one reliable seer and a number of subsidiary ones to back up their work."

"Extraordinary!" said Olympe. "Somehow I cannot see Demophile lending her aid to such a joint project."

"No," said Desolina, very dryly. She did not like Demophile Clairdelune at all, and considered her a diva. "Perhaps it is because all the schools have down-to-earth English Divination teachers; those at Durmstrang and Schloss Adler are the grandchildren of the Hogwarts teacher, and she used to be an Insurance Diviner. I believe the teacher at Prince Peak was just short of the requirements for that job, but I have heard that her weather prediction and timing of attack prediction is very accurate."

"Hélas, that we have no such accuracy," said Olympe. "If we had, I should not have been taken by surprise by this. I…. I will promise to listen to the recommendations of your rascally Marauders in the future, but I want to KNOW."

"Yes, Olympe," said Desolina. "Do you now wish a line of exclusion to bounce gates?"

"You can do that?" demanded Olympe.

"I believe so, or at least these Russian gates, now that I have seen the form of them and watched them be disrupted," said Desolina. "It was an interesting matter to have more to study than the single one used in Durmstrang; I do not profess to be any good at pattern magic, but I believe I understand enough Arithmancy to translate pattern into chant. I will use the top chanters, if I may, and any volunteers from the other schools?"

"Do, please, I beg you," said Olympe. "And what of other gates?"

"It doesn't exclude Lilith Snape's unique form of travel," said Desolina, dryly, "But as there are several pupils who are part fey, and at risk of attack from the High Fey, I might just chant up a Fey exclusion line too. Only that's less a priority right now."

"I hope you will do it as soon as there is time," said Olympe, who knew more about the fey than most, and most fervently did not want trouble with them.

oOo

"I didn't tell Agata everything either, Olympe, if that's any consolation," said Severus, when taxed on the subject. "And it's Dolokhov. Motylek, or as my pupils call him Grand Moth Barkin'1, knew, and is a tool of Lord Pyotr Tirlichov, also known as Lord Flexi Jerkoff, who serves his Prince Aleksandr. Tirlichov is a nasty piece of work and doesn't care hugely about his underlings, but he has the advantage of having swelled the ranks of his troops with some defectors from the Ukrainian Order of the Dragon. They are moderately competent ritual wizards, and one of them tried to do a ritual sending against me when the attack failed."

"The ritual appears to have failed," said Olympe, deriving some satisfaction that Agata Bacso had been kept somewhat in the dark, and by her own pupils too.

Severus gave a thin smile.

"When performing a ritual sending and expecting the use of Naming magic to work, it is essential to know every part of the recipient's name. My assailant was careless and used only 'Severus Snape'. It permitted me to draw on … other resources without even recourse to the blood group. I wonder how he'll enjoy living out his days as a Meerkat?"

"You are a terrible man, Severus," said Olympe. "I hope you never meet hubris coming the other way."

"So do I," said Severus, with one of his sudden, unexpectedly sweet, smiles.

He reflected that though he had many other names to choose from – Sev, Sev-mate, Severin Prince, Daddy, Darling, Stirrer, Scales, The Half-Blood Prince and even Professor Snape, it had been the secret name that so few knew on which he had drawn, using the strength of the association of the original Marauders, and the friendship with James Potter and Sirius Black that was sweeter and stronger for having never been anticipated. Snivellus had been perfect, the vulnerable and angry little boy who was so unlike the self-confident headmaster and pre-eminent potioneer. As Snivellus he could evade the attack of burning heat, quench it with the memory of bitter tears, and trace back the connection.

The Meerkat could be easily cured of his condition; Severus had not bothered with naming magic but had just flung raw power at the wizard, who was working with six others in the group. Severus wondered whether the transfiguration had bounced through all of them, or just affected the one doing the casting; it was unimportant. He might see if Flexi Jerkoff could be goaded into saying, at some point.

If, of course, Krait had not got irritated at Tirlichov and carried out her threat so that he, too, was a Meerkat, just because.

He did hope he would never meet hubris coming the other way; the heady power of the Blood Group made it easy to think that one could accomplish anything, and the only way to avoid the temptation was to firmly remind oneself that just because you COULD do something, one should NOT necessarily do so. And he preferred not to draw on the Group if he could handle something alone, purely to avoid that heady feeling. And because he was a very private person.

oOo

One of the schools which had been watching, but not participating in, the Triwizard was a new school; it had been implemented under the aegis of the Ministry of Education at the suggestion of Timothy Gregory, who felt that a training school was what was needed to teach would-be ministers what it was like to teach, and it had been established just outside Bangor, as the approximate centre of the British isles, indeed, in the farmhouse Sirius had found for the first chant to remove the self-punishing chant from elves. It was a free school, since the education might well prove a little hit and miss, and places offered to those of the wizarding world who could not afford Hogwarts, or succeed in winning a scholarship there, or who were not within easy travel of the Umbrous Lane school. It would teach only to OWL level, but those adjudged capable of pursuing a career further, including in vocational qualifications covered by the new Special Sixth in Hogwarts, would be sponsored by the Ministry into Hogwarts. The take-up was considerable, and the structure of the farmhouse had needed extensive modification, since these pupils would be boarders. More than half were goblins which meant that it could also be a training ground for those hoping for a career in the goblin office if they cared to take it up; working with goblins tended to be a more hands-on job generally than working in the Ministry of Education, so those who could not hack it tended to get out sooner.

The headmistress of the Bangor school was a retired teacher who had been running an informal school for goblins for many years in Nottingham, heavily under cover until Voldemort was dead, that she had handed over to the wealthy goblins of the town to fund and provide teachers for. As the Bangor establishment planned to train teachers to teach as well as go into the Ministry, she was hoping that the range of subjects taught in Nottingham would be extended too, with teachers from the training school. Madam Flink was herself one sixteenth goblin, and had a copy of the portrait of the dead Cosmo Malfoy in her study; Witch Weekly had printed an excellent photograph of the portrait, and if it did not intereact like a proper portrait, Madam Flink at least considered its inspirational effect to be worth while.

It has to be said that most of the pupils were supporting Zajala, Riker or Yrdl; the first two because they were English, in the cases of the human pupils, and the whole of them because they were goblin or part goblin on the part of the rest. They were awed that this was the first time that goblins had been champions in the Triwizard.

"Though not for want of trying, I suspect, on the part of the first goblin in Hogwarts, young Kinat Konal," opined Timothy Gregory. "He and his friends were young limbs, always up to mischief, but in a good way. They never played nasty jokes," he added. "The kids he ran with would be the Malfoy Twins and Romulus Snape; and those four started the London Free School where young Riker Shorg goes."

Having a professor who knew those rather legendary fighters against evil did Timothy no harm in the eyes of his pupils! Nor did being able to tell stories of Hogwarts Headmaster and former Triwizard champion, David Fraser! The enmity which had lain between them was now laid aside, and a tentative friendship was growing.

oOo

The only Triwizard contender not eager to get on with the first task and get it over was Sardo Mordaunt, who was still working on formulating tactics. Biirta had prepared sundry pots of succulent grasses which research suggested would be tasty to Erumpants, and not being a herbologist but being a competent transfigurationist now she was over early problems was taking the joint expedient of giving them some of the properties of poppies, and too of flooding the soil with soporifics that would be taken up into the plant. She was wondering if it might not be too slow, but certain success was sometimes better than speed. Zajala and Zyrillis had been brewing their respective potions; Zajala's was a combination soporific with confusing and befuddling, though as Lilith said rudely, with erumpants, like with Ravenclaws, it would be hard to tell the difference. Riker had been getting to know a pretty filly who was happy to come to a whistle, Yrdl had been describing runes on a sheet of card, and what Aglaia was up to nobody was quite certain. However, as she appeared to be practising firing her wand at the ground, the others went scouting, quietly, and discovered that Aglaia planned on using her skill with runes to wand-write and hence to hold the Erumpant immobile. She seemed to be planning on using both Raidho and Tiwaz in merkstave which would lead to a combination of stasis and confusion.

"Which is interesting," said Yrdl, "Because I considered them, and decided there were decided risks with such uncertain-tempered creatures using one of Freyja's Aett with one of Tyr's Aett, especially as Tiwaz in merkstave CAN signify war and strife as well as mental parlysis. A lot of that depends on an Erumpant having enough mentality to paralyse."

"What are you using?" asked Zyrillis.

"Merkstave of Raidho and Fehu, with excursions into Ansuz, also in merkstave," said Yrdl. "They're all Freyja's Aett, and Fehu is cattle, which kind of covers erumpants too, and the merkstave is slavery and bondage as well as cowardice and stupidity and failure generally. Ansuz is Odin the All-father, and its merkstave is the deceptive and manipulative side. Raidho in merkstave is just to put the kybosh onto the movement of the wretched critter."

"Nice," said Zyrillis. "Our kids use Raidho with Ehwaz though; Ehwaz is under Tyr."

"Yes, but those two are natural partners," said Yrdl. "And Tyr's Aett craves action quite often, it's quite a restless Aett. Shifting things is one thing. Controlling and holding is something else, and it's why I have the ogham for Blackthorn all around the edge, for added control and discipline. If one set of runes fails, I have a backup plan."

"Sounds good to me," said Zyrillis.

Pharamond meanwhile took pity on Sardo, and passed him an ELF-level book on care of beasts which described, with diagrams, the approved method of dealing with an erumpent.

"Nothing wrong with using the approved method, old boy, now that the one person who was thinking of it has another idea," he said.

It may be said that Sardo was very grateful!

1 Motylek is Russian for Moth. For those not aware of the very English idiom, Barking is short for Barking Mad. The Star Wars reference was de rigeur of course.


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The day of the first task dawned, and the contestants picked their numbers. Pharamond was to go first, then Sardo, then Yrdl, followed by Lilith, then Zajala, Zyrillis next, then Biirta, followed by Aglaia, and Riker last. The task was simple enough in theory: remove a ribbon tied around the horn of an erumpent.

"Not the most enviable position, tail-end Charlie," Lilith commiserated with Riker.

He shrugged.

"My only regret is that I shan't get to see what everyone does; on the other hand, perhaps that's an advantage. I don't get to build up too much fear."

"Keep it cool like that and you'll be fine," said Lilith.

Biirta could have wished that she had been picked earlier, but she kept repeating the mantra Lucius had taught her, that fear is the little death of reason. And in the orphanage there had been far worse things to fear than being under attack by an erumpent; because even if it led to disqualification, the Blood Group would get her out.

They would get any contestant out, even Hallow, because that was what Marauding was for.

oOo

Pharamond strolled out into the arena. Damian Malfoy had told him that the Erumpant had eighty four pairs of heritable material, like a black rhino. This meant a chant of forty-two syllables was in order, which had made Lilith giggle when she overheard this conversation, and mutter something about the answer to life, the universe and everything. Pharamond had a deep suspicion that Lilith would get more out of his chant than he would through being able to apply some kind of assimilative correlation by jiggery pokery. However, he fully intended to perform his chant and hope to get enough points to stand well up on the leader board; and he began the moment he could see the erumpent.

It charged, naturally, but started to slow, and as his chant finished, it ground to a halt. Pharamond strolled up to it, undid the ribbon, and with a moment of bravado, patted the creature on the horn.

It gave him a flat, unfriendly stare.

Pharamond strolled off, waving his ribbon, to the wild cheers of the entire school. It felt good.

He accrued fourteen time points for his efforts, which he knew would be less than some of the other choices, but chanting was his strength. He was much mollified to be awarded ten style points each by Britain and France, and nine from Germany, who rarely awarded ten save to their own contestants; and seven from the newly-arrived and sour-faced Russian judge who replaced Motylek. Russia had made representation to France's Ministry; and the French ministry had remained adamant. The Schrempf woman who had been involved with attack wizards at a previous Triwizard had claimed Imperius Curse and had been let off by her own country, as it had taken place in Durmstrang. This was NOT going to happen in La Belle France, and, said the Prime Minister, if Russia wished to withdraw, France for one would applaud.

oOo

There was an unexpected delay as the erumpent handlers found that they needed someone skilled in chanting to undo their beast from its immobility. There were three erumpants, but this one had to be removed before the next could be let out. Desolina obliged, and the irritable creature was led away under cushioning charms.

Sardo was next, looking terrified; but he was methodical and careful, and managed to get his cushioning charms up quite quickly, in time to manage to take eighteen time points.

It would help to make up for taking only five style points across the board, since it was held to be a very pedestrian solution. The Triwizard might test NEWT level students, but it was looking for those who could think outside the box. Sardo shook Pharamond's hand; he knew he owed the boy thanks for pointing him in the right direction, and pedestrian was better than being exploded.

oOo

Yrdl went third. She _accio_'d her prepared card of runes, and added a chant to that, the erumpent starting to charge, and then slowing, confused. Yrdl set the card in mid air in front of it, and used her wand to untie the ribbon so she did not place any part of herself in front of the confusing runes. As she had arranged them in a confusing pattern as well, the limited thought processes of the creature were mesmerised. Yrdl skipped out, relieved that it had worked. She gained seventeen time points, ten style points from Britain, and nine each from Germany and France, who were impressed by anyone who could use Ancient Runes more than merely suffer from them, and the Russian judge was hissed by the entire of Beauxbatons when he awarded but four points.

"I cannot award more points for some animal that has learned a trick by rote," he explained when the other judges gazed at him in disbelief.

"The girl – she is not an animal - plainly knows a lot more than using a trick by rote," said the French Sports Minister, "And use such contentious language again and I'll have you arrested. Dear me, we might end up arresting all the Russian Ministry; how lowering for the tone of our prisons, even the goblin crime lords will petition to be elsewhere than with such _saléte._"

This did not go down well. The French minister smiled jubilantly. Baiting the Russian was going to be as good sport as the competition.

oOo

Lilith was next and leaped lightly for her broom that she summoned using extrinsic translocation by precision, wordlessly and wandlessly, the moment she was in the arena. She landed lightly on it on her feet as it appeared out of nowhere, did a Korbut flip, and dangled off it to untie the ribbon and fly out with it. It took less time to perform than to describe. She was out of the arena before the crowd had finished gasping.

The applause was tumultuous.

Lilith took twenty-one time points out of a possible twenty-two. The British minister awarded her ten – he was quidditch mad, after all – and both France and Germany gave her eight. As Adam said laconically to the Hogwarts crowd, presumably they had blinked and missed some of the subtlety. Russia awarded six, and the minister said snippily that such a very little girl had no right to be in the contest, and being able to fly did not demonstrate any ability of spellcasting to the level required for the competition. Lilith smiled at him brightly, curtseyed, and it took until the break for lunch for the man to discover that he was wearing a very uncomplimentary word in cyrillics on his forehead.

"I'm so sorry that you don't consider extrinsic translocation by precision to be spell-casting," said Lilith. "I had no idea it wasn't taught in Russia."

"I didn't even know what it was called," said the English minister.

"It was not accio? But ma p'tite, you should have used incantation to show us that you knew!" said the French minister.

Lilith curtseyed again.

"Bad habit of the Gerhardt years, m'sieur, not to show the enemy what you are planning," she said.

oOo

Zajala was next. She cast _accio_ on her flask of confusing, befuddling and stupefying potion, switched it smoothly with the fluid in the erumpent horn, and put up a wall of force into which the creature would crash. Being on the other side she was protected from the effects.

The ribbon was amongst the horn debris, a little the worse for wear, and Zajala picked it up and walked out as soon as the creature had succumbed to her potion.

It had taken longer than the others to date, and she only had ten time points.

"What did you DO?" asked the English judge, almost as confused and befuddled as the erumpent. Zajala explained, succinctly, and held up the flask of ermumpent fluid.

The English judge awarded her nine points for a, er, unique solution; the German gave her only seven points, on the grounds that the erumpent had been damaged in the process, and the French judge gave her ten points on the grounds that she had been most frugal to collect the fluid from the horn. The unspoken reason was to irritate the Russian, who predictably awarded only four, citing the same reason as the German judge and declaring it a poor choice. Zajala knew it did not warrant ten points any more than it warranted four at the other end, and felt that perhaps the French partiality and the Russian bias evened out fairly well. It was doubtless at least giving her dad a good laugh! And he would be pleased at her for saving the exploding fluid too. Even if it was tempting to hurl the flask at the Russian judge.

He was enough of a legilimens to see that thought form; and he ducked hastily behind the bench.

Zajala laughed gaily and moved away. It was enough to have made him.

Being a Malfoy really WAS a state of mind.

oOo

Zyrillis strolled out, also using extrinsic translocation by precision to pick his bucket of potion out of mid air with a panache that had Xanthe and Xanthippe calling him a posey git, in admiring tones.

His switching charm was made with a showman's style, which, as Nathan said dryly, only looked more impressive than Zajala's, whereas the smooth, unmarked switch she had made had been far more competent looking, even if the English judge had been too stupid to realise what she was doing.

"At least he asked," said Isambard. "It doesn't make Zyrillis less competent, just better at milking the crowd, and I suppose that at least is partly what this contest is about, not just ability."

"Which is silly," said Tobala.

"It is silly," said Walter. "But Zyrillis knows how to play to the crowd. Lilith could too if she only unleashed all that unmitigated cute on people."

"Poor Lils," laughed Nathan, "She doesn't want to be cute; she wants to be treated as a serious witch!"

"It ain't going to happen unless she breaks over five foot any time," said Jingjie.

Meanwhile, the erumpent's stomach contents lay in the bucket in which the potion had lately dwelt, and Zyrillis put the bucket down, and walked towards the dizzying animal, in time to whip off the ribbon as it keeled over.

He managed nineteen time points, and was awarded nine points by the British judge, ten each by the German and French judges, and even seven from the Russian. As the German sphere did not generally rate potions, either he was marked on his sheer chutzpah, or else attitudes were gradually changing. Zyrillis retired, currently heading the leader board, two points ahead of Lilith.

oOo

Biirta walked out, pretending to herself that she was not nervous, and consequently using every trick Narcissa had taught her. She summoned her plants, but not to her own hand, placing them directly under the erumpant's nose as she absently summoned a breeze to blow her scent away from the creature.

This little touch received applause from those who recognised its significance.

Erumpents had three thoughts in their minds; eating, charging, and sex. This one was sidetracked neatly by realising that its lengthy breakfast had been truncated. Biirta moved towards it as it ate, keeping the wind blowing her scent away. Like rhinos, erumpants had poor sight.

She decided to risk whipping off the ribbon while the erumpent was still shaking its head woozily, and by doing so managed to accumulate seventeen time points. Both the British and German judges gave her ten points for a novel solution, and, said the British Sports Minister, one which was most humane and panicked the poor creature less than some. France gave her eight, and even Russia gave her seven. This appeared to be the maximum to which they were prepared to stretch.

There was now an extended break whilst another erumpent was found quickly and brought in, all three of those provided being _hors de combat_ in one way or another, one befused, confuddled and dehorned, and two sleeping off the effects of being poisoned a little bit.

oOo

Aglaia Hallow was the penultimate contestant, and came into the stadium against the fresh erumpent, wand working, and the runes flowing in front of it. She realised her mistake in using Tiwaz as soon as she laid it, and the animal became angered and even more aggressive, and quickly wrapped it in merkstave Raidho runes. She laid in some of Fehu too, so she did, as the knowledgeable commented, know her stuff. She acquired eighteen time points and was given ten and nine by the English and German judges, who were marking fairly, only six by France, who was not, claiming that seeing runes used twice was not so interesting the second time, as fatuous an excuse as any used by Russia. Russia gave its own contender ten, even if it was shaming that the English girl had been the one chosen.

"Nice work overcoming the restlessness of Tyr's Aett," said Yrdl. "A smooth piece of work. You know your runes."

Aglaia looked down her nose.

"And what did you use?" she asked, curiosity overcoming her distaste for a goblin.

"Raidho, Fehu and Ansuz all in Merkstave, and using a compelling knot pattern, all edged with the Ogham for Blackthorne," said Yrdl.

Aglaia looked interested, despite herself.

"That's moderately competent," she said. "Pattern magic is new for me, and a part of the ritual we are taught."

"Ours is taught largely to those people wanting to use art in magic, but we touch on it in Comparative Magic, which allows the synthesis of entirely new solutions by drawing on more than one source," said Yrdl. Hallow was an academic! If she was soured by having to deal with prejudice for being English in the Gerhardt years, and had built an outer skin of being more German than the Germans, perhaps here was a crack in the armour, as well as her obvious love of horses. Yrdl added, "We use pattern magic and music and chanting to soothe our horses when we transfer them to gymkhanas, as well of course as training them to accept portkey travel."

Aglaia stared.

"You transport horses by portkey? But how?"

"Making a part of their tack a portkey; and taking them through it many times when it is not important, at first soothed with soothing songs and chants until they become inured to it," said Yrdl. "It takes a little patience, but then, if something is worthwhile, it's worth taking time over."

"Yes, I see," said Aglaia, then tossed her head and stalked off.

Yrdl nodded to herself.

Maybe, just maybe there was hope for her.

oOo

Riker, last to go, whistled for his flying horse, and scrambled up fairly adeptly. He could fly pretty well, though not as well as those who had the chance to practise daily throughout their early years; the London school did not place as much emphasis on it as Schloss Adler. However, his mare was nervous of the erumpent, and shied away, and Riker only just completed the task within the allotted time for bonus points, and came away with just one time point. He was awarded seven, six and eight points by the English, German and French judges; and a predictable four from the Russian, which had the Frenchman swearing over the fact that he had not given more, since he had not even noticed that Riker was part goblin.

"Sir, I'd rather have a fair mark and a man who is blind to race," said Riker.

He was given applause for that.

Aglaia Hallow paused to pet the mare and gave him a grudging nod. Dolokhov was in the background scowling; he had a hat over the asses ears and a robe to the ground to hide the hooves and the tail. He was trying to pretend not to notice that several of the English were singing,

_Horsey, horsey, don't you stop,_

_Just let your hooves go clippety-clop,_

_The tail goes swish and the wheels go round, _

_Giddy-up, you're homeward bound!_

He had no interest in English nursery rhymes; which was a shame for him, as more knowledge of the same might have given him a means to escape his current predicament. And he had no idea that Lilith was considering that his currently altered state would make him more vulnerable to a sleep sending using 'Ride a cock horse [up to dreamy town]' or a translocational spell using 'ride a cock horse to Banbury Cross'.

oOo

The leader board for the first task showed Zyrillis in the lead, two points ahead of the jointly second Lilith and Aglaia. Biirta was amazed to be fourth, one point behind the two in second place and two points ahead of Pharamond, himself one point ahead of Yrdl. There were nine points difference between Yrdl and Zajala, who came next; Zajala would have a lot of ground to make up for being, in some ways, too competent to show her ability, and in having chosen a slower solution than some. Sardo was two points behind her, and Riker nine points behind him, and probably in a position from which it was impossible to catch up without some serious problem to the leaders.

"Hey, Adam, I might not win," said Lilith. "Well, that's something to know; I'm not as good as I thought I was."

"You're good in ways competition can't test," said Adam, loyally. He believed what he said, too.

Lilith considered.

"You mean in real life and combat I run rings around most people? Probably true at that, but it's as well to know that I do have my weaknesses, and better to find them out here rather than in combat."

"Your weakness isn't one," retorted Adam. "It's like Zajala, you don't waste time showing how you do stuff, you just do it. Which is what counts. If people want flashy wand work, I guess they go to a duel. If they want to win a battle they duck and cover and screech for a Snape or a Malfoy."

This was fairly close to the truth, so Lilith did not bother to call him on being partisan. And Zajala had, in her opinion, deserved a better mark from the German judge, even if the _mudlo_ Russian was never going to mark her fairly.

oOoOo

The audience at home were, in various places, indignant about some of the marking. Sextus was boiling with indignation over Lilith being marked down by the Russian.

"Can't he SEE what she did? How is it not using high level spells to perform a piece of Extrinsic translocation that most people leave school still not able to do?" he demanded.

"Mr Scarpin, this assumes that yon wee sumpf cud even SPELL extrrrrrinsic Trrrrranslocation, never mind recognise or perforrrrm it," said Madam McGonagall, acting Headmistress while David was with his team.

When it came to Zajala, the school was also most indignant.

"Being fair, she was slow," said Kazrael.

"Yeah, but she should have had a couple of style points more," said Sextus. "She's got a lot of ground to make up."

"Next task is rescuing her loved one, and Sev is in charge of it," said Gennar. "I wonder if that'll be me, as her brother?"

"Dream on," said Sextus. "If you ask me, she and Nigel Baddock have a Case, even if they haven't realised it yet."

"I suspect that Severus will choose capable older loved ones rather than small kids," said Jayashree. "So more likely you for Lils than say Draxana."

"By that token he ought to have me, not Baddock," said Gennar. "I'm way more capable."

This was true enough not to elicit any denial.

Hogwarts was not the only school to be indignant; the London school was incandescent on behalf of all the goblins and part goblins.

"Wish Riker hadn't faffed around on a horse though," said one of Riker's former class mates, now with an OWL and his DOE under his belt in good employment as an assistant to Pete Prince in his apothecary shop.

"He had to go for something different or be marked down on style," said Mr Shorg, "Or so I understand it. The mistake he made was not accustoming the poor beast to the smell of those wretched critters. Gawd, ain't they BIG! I reckon my boy's got outsize ones to even attempt it," he added proudly.

This was generally held to be quite true.

The sentiments were generally echoed in the Bangor school too, and though the goblin contestents and tiny Lilith Snape were applauded for their skill and bravery, there were not many who would have liked to have emulated them!

Prince Peak accepted the unfair marking with a collective and resigned sigh; and small Falk Kesselring earned an approving nod from his elders when he piped up,

"But it doesn't make it better having the French judge cheat the other way, that's just as wrong!"

The pupils of Schloss Adler, watching with their Headmaster, since he had ceded the task of escorting the contenders to the Junior Head, were neither surprised nor shocked.

"Actually," said Wanda, "It's quite impressive how relatively even-handed the German is. The French judge does goblins no favours with positive discrimination, but I suppose it balances out some."

Nobody even mentioned that the English judge was even-handed; this was taken as a given by the Schloss Adler pupils, who assumed, with only partial truth, that all English were blind to race.

Durmstrang's pupils merely sneered at the Russian's foolishness.

"What foolishness!" said Leva Levadeva. "If they truly believe goblins to be inferior, all they have to do is to mark what they do, not mark down, which opens them to accusations of unfairness, and is as silly as that fat French fool marking them up. Because if they were inferior, that would show up."

"I do not know how the English get their goblins to perform as well as people, but they must surely be cheating in order to do so!" declared Kunegunda Sternkessel.

"Don't be such a _scheissekopf_," said Kjell Orn in scorn. "The way they get their goblins to perform as well as humans is by giving them equal education and the opportunity to develop their talents."

"It seems quite clear that they are able to equal any human," said Antoinette Labellette, who had been looking around herself more since the control by Achille had been removed from her. "I am glad of the opportunity to learn this. They look more human too; why is that?"

"Good food, healthy lifestyle," said Sofie Thorvaldsen. "Note the boy who is only part goblin who comes from a poorer neighbourhood looks in some ways more like one's idea of a goblin, because he's a bit leaner and hungrier."

This, as it happened, was not entirely fair, since Mr Shorg had a good living driving a hackney carriage, owning the two working horses that his son knew better how to drive than to ride; but Riker had been going through a growing spurt. Moreover, the free school did provide breakfast for all, and lunch for those who needed it, so most of their young pupils were not as pinched looking as they might have otherwise been. In principle, however, Sofie was generally correct.

"I hope he can get a few more points," said Elfleda Mondschein. "It must be embarrassing to lag so far behind, and it is all down to his horse making refusals."

"Didn't show it the beast first," said Leva, laconically.

It does not reflect well on Hellibore's academy that almost all the watching pupils were more concerned with how their man did than with any issues over fairness to goblins. If they thought about goblin contenders at all, save those who had made the effort to chat to Yrdl and others, it was more to marvel that they could even do magic, let alone consider how well they performed.

The French students considered it, on the whole, only right and proper that their minister should redress any unfairness on the part of '_le sales Russe'_ though like Hellibore's boys, most of them were more concerned with the performance of Pharamond. That he was not first on the leader board was a matter for concern! He would doubtless perform the second task even better and the German, Russian and English contenders would show that their performance was just a flash in the pan.

Various schools looked forward to welcoming back their heroes and making much of them, or exhorting them to do better. The next task would have a more limited number of visitors as each champion was to choose no more than half a dozen supporters.

Their choices might prove interesting, and form the basis for a future fourth task.

oOo

All that remained before returning to their respective schools was for the contenders to be given the clue to the second task, which they might ponder over the Yule holiday. This second task was set by Prince Peak, and as Zajala said gloomily, knowing Severus Snape it would be tortuous to the point of understanding why there were so many people who wanted to murder him.

Even Lilith could not disagree with this assessment!

Severus handed a small wallet to each contestant.

"You can all complete this task," he said. "I've spoken with all your heads or former heads to ascertain that everyone has the means to cover this."

Naturally, the wallets were rapidly opened.

There were two maps within, using geomantic symbols, and a terse note.

"_The first map will take you to where you can collect the ingredients and brew a potion to permit you to pass through fire to reach your loved one. There will be sundry other ingredients for those who may want them to help with their travel. Ingredients will need deciphering. The second map will take you to your best beloved. Oh, and one more thing, if you use the same method of transport on both journeys, you will incur a 20-point penalty_."

"Heh, classic Severus," said Zajala. "Good job I picked up enough geomancy through the skin to figure that out. Heh, not such a wide choice of means of travel though."

"You're good at potions, and anyone who's helped Lucius move his horses ought to be able to ruthlessly apply arithmancy," said Lilith.

"Good point," said Zajala. "Question will be if I can open a gate for the first one to cut down on time."

"Runes, Arithmancy, Chanting, Simples," said Lilith making the obligatory meerkat noises.

"I thought the clue to the second task was supposed to be confusing and befuddling?" said Pharamond.

"It is," said Sardo. "It'll mean a lot of library work for me, I know almost no Geomancy."

"Well, there is that," said Pharamond. "I've never studied it either. But it's not Conjuring Theory."

"Geomancy is nice and easy," said Riker. "It's a lovely pair of maps and gives you all sorts of opportunities to use ley lines and nodal shift."

"Well, at least most of us have heard those terms this time round," said Pharamond.

oOo

Lilith reflected that it was quite cleverly done; but that was Daddy for you! Those capable of nodal shift or apparating or opening gates could be assured a fast travel time; and those good at potions and arithmancy, who had also some idea of geomancy, might brew a liquid portkey at the same time as brewing a fire-resisting potion. Presumably any ingredients that needed preparing would have been prepared.

Lilith considered using feyspace, and decided that such might give too much away. Apparating and a gate were the quickest, and it was a lovely quick brew in the meantime. No problem. Daddy had as good as said that they would be labelled using ancient runes, but probably not using any of the texts Jade had deciphered as that was not widely available. Lilith beamed happily. It should be fun!

And now back to school, and some real work, knowing that the next task was so easy that there was nothing to get worked up over.

**The end of part 1**


End file.
